Who Are You?
by RagingRider
Summary: I noticed that authors here have been writing about people being transported to the Pokemon world. I decided to add a twist: what if it was the other way around? What if Pokemon started living in our world? To answer that question, I'm going to find out.
1. Declaration of War

**OK**,**so this is my first fanfic. Just like the summary says, it mostly shows what I would do and have to go through if Pokemon were to appear in our world. I wanted to write this because, again, from the summary, I was getting pretty tired of reading how people were being transported to the Pokemon world, and I wanted to add a personal twist to it. The first few chapters will only feature the basics of the main character's lifestyle, but later on, I'll get Pokemon and even some drama to go along with the storyline.**

**Sadly, I doubt there will be much battles like you would want. This is the real world, after all, and I'm making the characters as rational and realistic as I can. These people can't have Pokemon battles every other day, after all!**

**Keep in mind, I'm writing this fic as I go along, so I'll try to keep the details between chapters as consistent as possible.**

**Please try to review as much as possible. As a new writer, I want to know what each reader could want in a story, what I was lacking, and all that kind of stuff.**

**If you've read any of this, thanks for your time and effort, and here's the (rather short, like I said, I want your criticism on this) first chapter!**

...

"JOHN, GET OUT OF BED RIGHT NOW AND COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST!"

At that, I woke with a start and fell out of my bed in shock and fear, painfully landing headfirst on my wooden floor.

I was still drowsy and half-asleep when I looked at my alarm clock: 8:20 a.m. Monday November 13.

"8:20! Holy crap, I'm gonna be late! Dammit, why didn't you wake me up!" I thought to myself.

Thankfully, I was already well dressed (in my opinion) so I scrambled out of my dusty room, ran down the stairs, grabbed a toast with jam, grabbed my bag and ran out the door.

"I'm off! See ya later!" I said to my mom who was cleaning up the table.

"Alright, but you better come back home on time, instead of just hanging out with your friends! I need help around the house, you know!" I could hear my mother yelling back at me.

"Don't worry!" I would have laughed out the words, but with the adrenaline in my system held me back from doing so.

Now might be a good time to introduce myself-John Evans, 16 years old and 'school bully'. I call myself that because every kid in the school gets really scared or at least intimidated when they see me. I don't know how it started, but it left me pretty discriminated from the norm. Maybe it's just my hairstyle, which I keep up to my ears and neck. Or it could be my dark clothing I like to wear wherever I go. I tried to explain that I just like my long black hair and my clothing because they're comfy, not to show my image. But the approach alone was enough to make them walk away terrified of me.

Because of this, even though my parents didn't know, I practically have no friends _to_hang out with.

Another feature I have is my eye colour. Most people have eyes that are the same colour, like black brown or blue. But mine is black and, even oddly enough, grey. The doctors said this was called heterochromia or something like that, which means I have two differently colored irises. When I was a grade-schooler, I was always fascinated by my eyes and almost always took a minute in the bathroom to check out my eyes, whether it was at school or home. I asked why this was, and my mom said it was a trait her grandfather had and I inherited it. Out of all of my external features, I see the eyes as my favourite.

I'll try to explain more of myself afterwards, but right now, I had to run!

After running for what felt like an hour (but really just 10 minutes) I saw my school, DulcetDrift High School, and slowed down to a walk, realizing that I was the only one in the crowd of students running. After a while, I saw a huge crowd of students and teachers near the entrance and tried to listen in on what the crowd was saying.

"What's the hold-up?"  
>"What is it?"<p>

"Is he okay?"

"Is he dead?"

After hearing that, the principle yelled out, "Everyone, move around the body and get to your classes. All of you!" Everyone fell silent and walked in the building. With most of the crowd gone, I got a good look at what the students were surrounding.

Instantly, I regretted my decision.

The 'thing' was definitely a person, judging from the body figure, but it looked almost...disfigured. I don't mean it didn't look human, but the body looked like it was...broken. Everywhere where the joints were located, the limbs were bent and broke in ways they were not meant to bend. The body was surrounded in a pool of blood, as if it exploded inside out.

I covered my mouth in haste; the smell of rotting human flesh was bad enough, but seeing the flies hovering above it was about to toss me over the edge. I held my breath and rushed inside the school.

Almost instantly, the people looked at me as I entered the building, and I felt a hundred pairs of eyes look at me. I decided to ignore the stares and walked to my locker. It wasn't very effective, as I felt my stomach clench from embarrassment, but I judged it was better than trying to explain myself to dozens of teenagers. Thankfully no one tried to approach me, probably thinking "He's probably going to light me up next..." or something like that. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, the bell rang, indicating the start of the school day.

…

After school, I walked back home, but I heard my name being spoken.

"John, hey John! Wait up!"

_Dear lord, I could recognize that voice anywhere._

I turned around to see none other than my older brother, Jason. He was 17, but will turn 18 by the end of the year. He was easily the opposite of me, wearing bright clothing and often a smile on his face. He was optimistic and friendly, while I was cynical and introverted. He got As on his tests, while I got crap marks. We were like polar opposites. The only amusing part of him to me was that despite being my older brother, he was shorter than me, but I never had the guts to kick his butt when he teased me. Besides, that would enforce everyone's image of me being a bully.

Thankfully, he decided not to chat much along as we walked back home, which was good, considering I didn't like to talk much too.

After we walked in, Jason told me to do my homework early. I was reluctant but I was feeling pretty good today for some reason and finished it, just in time for dinner.

After that, I walked into my room and my clock read 11:00 p.m. Seeing that, I made sure no one could hear me and was asleep. After hearing nothing but silence for a whole minute through my strained auditory nerves, I reached under my bed and pulled out a box. I smiled to myself as pulled out from it my...

Nintendo 3DS, a birthday present I received from my 16th birthday in August. While it may seem foolish to you, there's a reason I keep it in a box: to keep my nosy brother from playing its games. Can you guess it?

Yep, it's Pokemon, from the generation IV games of Platinum, Soul Silver, to the newest Pokemon Black and White (I own Pokemon Black).

And yes, I know what you're thinking: I am a fan of Pokemon.

Many people don't know this fact. Hell I don't think anyone knows. Ever since I played my very first Pokemon game, Pokemon Red, I was hooked. Using my pay from my summer job and allowances every month, I bought whatever games I could. Think of it like the other side of my personality.

Every night, whenever I could, I would try to get through my games, currently Pokemon Black, or read up some fanfics online using my laptop (my 15th birthday present). Reading a story, I thought to myself, "Would that actually happen? I mean, these are wild animals we're talking about. How can they be so docile and peaceful while some could kill you without warning?"

I laughed at the thought, of course they can! After all, the so-called 'Pokemon world' is nothing but fiction.

After closing my laptop, I looked at my clock, reading 1:23 a.m. "Damn, I better sleep, and wake up before school starts, unlike today." I said to myself. I turned off the lights and jumped onto my bed. As I fell asleep, I couldn't help but think to myself, "What would we do if we lived with these beings called Pokemon? Would it be for the good, bad or both? I wish to see such a world filled with these wonders..."

...

I woke up just fine from the alarm clock, and I muttered "Thank God the clock woke me up this time." I walked out the room, took a quick shower and went downstairs. I noticed no one was home, so I figured I should make breakfast myself for a change. I grabbed a bowl, milk and a box of cereal. I don't eat cereal that often because it's not very filling, but I was too tired to care about my stomach for now.

I started to pour the cereal in the bowl, but heard the front door open. I knew it was my mom, so I shouted a quick "Hey, mom.", and went to pour the milk in next.

"You're making breakfast by yourself?" I heard my mom ask with a mock surprised tone. "Well that's good to hear. I don't want to prepare your meals everyday! It's good to see you're taking initiative."

"Mom, I'm sixteen years old, I can at least make my own meals by myself." I told her, slightly exasperated at the fact she still treats me like a child.

When I heard her walk up to me, I turned my head to ask her what she wanted.

"What is it, mo...AAAAHH!"

I jumped out of my chair and scrambled against the wall next to me. My mom... no, my mom is nothing like the figure that loomed before me. She was wearing my mother's clothing, but she was nothing like this. She... no, it looked like a black-skinned monster of some sort. Another second and I realized that was not skin, but it rather looked like crusts, like the bark of a tree, and I could see blood-red flesh pulsating from cracks in the shell. The face however was what scared the crap out of me. The head had no hair, its eyes looked like a bottomless hole, like a pair of eyes that would follow you no matter how far you ran. But the most obvious feature was the mouth, where I saw bits of flesh and blood leaking from torn cheeks and skeletal jaw.

If anything, the whole figure looked like my mom, who came back from the dead after dying in a horrific car accident.

When I noticed the figure slowly walk towards me, I knew I had to run away, from here and yell for help. But, I realized I couldn't move my legs. I could have looked down and see what held me back, or pure dread could have paralyzed me, but as much as I wanted to look down, I couldn't tear myself away from the monster's face.

_This must be how Medusa's victims felt when they saw her face._

If I wasn't so frightened, I would have slapped myself at the idiocy of that comment.

"What's wrong, John?" the figure said, with worry in its voice. I didn't answer back. My mouth was dry and frozen with fear as much as my legs were. Suddenly, the monster lunged at me with its mouth outstretched like some humanoid snake.

I didn't even have time, or the will to scream out in horror.

...

I tore my eyes open and gasped for breath, and realized I was still in my room, and looked up at my grey ceiling. It took me another minute to calm down and convince myself it was just a dream.

Calm down, relax, it's just a dream, nothing more, nothing less. I thought to myself. Even as I said that to myself, the fright of the nightmare just wouldn't go away. This must be how it feels like to have a Darkrai create your nightmares. I laughed at myself hollowly for the joke and crawled out of bed. I noticed my alarm clock (reading 7:40 a.m.) was ringing its bells, so I reluctantly turned off the clock and went to take a shower.

Thankfully, when I walked down the stairs, my mother was there, unlike my dream, and was busy with making breakfast to notice me coming down. When I sat on a nearby chair she turned to face me.

"Well, finally, you woke up on time! What are the odds?" She asked with her usual joking tone.

I decided to follow along with her humor to stop thinking about the nightmare. I don't usually crack jokes, but after the scare I had this morning, I decided to lighten up.

"Oh yes, let's mark this day on the calendar." I grumbled out of mouth. I saw the morning newspaper on the table, and decided to read it to pass the time. I rarely read the papers because they never had anything interesting on the front page, but I decided to see if any serious news was in it.

"Let's see, anything interesting in here... oil prices, soccer scores... Hey! My school is in here!" Although I spoke out, I wasn't that surprised. I mean, a dead man in front of my school, how is that not news material?

"Yes, I read that article too. It's such a shame the cops couldn't find any suspects to the murder. I swear if I found such a man, I would..."

I ignored my mother's (extremely) long list of unlikely threats and continued to read it. A young Asian male, 40 to 50 years old, was found at the front entrance of DulcetDrift High School at 5:25 a.m. by a school custodian..." Below the print was a picture of the victim, and there it was, exactly as I remember it from yesterday on the pavement.

_Shit…I might be over-imagining things, but whoever did this must be planning something big…_

...

At school, the 'incident', it was now called, attracted even more attention than I thought. Every class I went to, the teachers had to comment about it. When they started talking about, my classmates joined in and ended up wasting up to 20 minutes of class time just for the teacher to answer any questions about the death. I'm not complaining, I love the fact that class time is being cut, but I need to catch up on my work; I was scoring a total average of 74 right now and I need it brought up soon.

"Who do you think killed him?"

Honestly, I was half-expecting that question to come up. I didn't even bother to turn my head to see who asked that; I was still lingering on my nightmare to pay any attention. Even though I don't recognize the voice and don't know who asked it, I knew he asked it just as an attempt to attract the teacher's attention to me. It was a low blow, even if the question sounded innocent.

"Honestly, I have no idea. But if I find who did this, I will make sure he stays in jail for a long, long time."

And once again, I felt many pairs of eyes fall on me. As if I didn't need enough attention.

...

After school, I ran straight home and turned on my laptop. I don't know why, but I was not scared by this incident. On the contrary, I was rather... intrigued.

You see, I despite my inward and lonely attitude, I was a rather active person. Whether it was to ride the next roller coaster, or join a sports team in school, I always had a compulsion to do something, something to vent my frustration or passion or whatever emotion I had at the time to good use. Hell, I even attended a Taekwondo to stay fit properly, as my parents called it (despite my current weight of 170 lb., I was a fatass when I was younger). But as my grades went down, the more I was restricted from joining any extra-curricular activities and had to focus more on my studies. It was then that I developed the mental capacity- and the anger-management skills-to get where I am now. But, this was where that stopped. Now that all I do is study, anything out of the ordinary is a godsend for me.

I quickly found a news article about the incident, in greater detail than the morning paper showed.

"The victim, identified as Howard Yi (47), was found dead at the front of DulcetDrift High School, killed horrendously..." Blah, blah, Blah, tell me something I don't know, I thought to myself.

"...the bones were broken with such force that the forensic scientists were surprised the limbs did not tear off..." When I read that, a chill went down my spine. I prayed that I never die in such a horrific manner.

Below the article, were more pictures of the body, shot from different angles, with doctors carving it open with scalpels to find out what happened. When I saw this, I instantly shut down my laptop and closed it with a **clak**.

_Oh no, I am not giving myself anymore nightmares tonight, or anytime, for that matter._

As usual, I reached under my bed and brought out my 3DS.

_Hopefully, this will help take my mind off of things._

But when I opened my DS, I noticed it was in sleep mode. Oh God, it's been running all this time! Funny, I remember turning it off when I went to bed.

I flipped it open and instead of the menu screen popping up, a long message from the top screen to the bottom slowly wrote itself on the white background.

_Greetings, John. Yes I know who you are._

_I contact you from an alternate world very similar to yours. However, you and your people see us as nothing more than myths and ideas used to increase your mass of followers and profit. The gods of my world, including me (you refer to us as 'legendary pokemon') have seen these... 'games' of yours and we decided:_

_We cannot allow this mockery of our kind just to be used as mere entertainment!_

_We have already made an example out of one of your species to show you what we are capable of. Let that be the declaration of war between our Pokemon world and your pathetic human world!_

_-The Original One_

_..._

"..."

That was all I could say (or not) after I read that message. A war? With our world and theirs? Why would they do such a thing? Just because we saw them as monsters and myths that GameFreak used?

Suddenly, as I closed the DS, last night's memory flashed through my mind...

_What would we do if we lived with these beings called pokemon..._

"Oh shit..."


	2. Instructions

John's POV

I dropped to my knees in shock and fear from what I just witnessed. A war between Pokemon and us? No way, it had to be a joke! Pokemon don't exist! They're just imaginary animals that Nintendo came up with to make a fast buck! This must me some sort of ... a hack or a virus! There's no way they could be real! Just then, my voice replayed my thought on the victim.

_...there was no way a person could have done this..._

_...the bones were broken with such force...the limbs did not tear off..._

Now it all made sense! Of course! There was, nor ever be people strong enough to leave a body mutilated like that!

_Oh, crap! Is that gonna happen to me! No way, no way, no WAY! I am not gonna die today, or anyday, for that matter!_

Despite my little mental debate I had in my head, I wasn't doing much physically. I just sat down on the ground with my knees and bowed my head, looking at the floor like a man about to be sentenced to death. Then, without thinking, I flexed my fingers, looking for something.

_Where did my DS go?_ Then I mentally slapped myself for that. How could I be thinking about a gaming device when the whole world and all of humanities' lives were at stake? I should be calling the cops! They would know what to do! Even as I said that and dashed across the room to grab my room's telephone (believe it or not, I do not have my own cell phone), that familiar voice of doubt flickered in my brain.

_Please, you think the cops, adults, parents, or even Jason would believe you of this little tale? They would probably just shrug and look away, thinking you've gone insane, or at least played with your DS too much and destroy it like last time._

I grimaced at the sad past. When I was 9 years old, my parents bought me the original DS console for my brother and me. When we entered high school, however, my dad threw a fit about how I should be studying to improve my grades. And if that wasn't enough, he grabbed the DS, threw it on the ground, and bashed it to pieces with a hammer. As if cracking the screen with the impact from the ground didn't drive a stake through my heart. I was lucky that he didn't beat me with it after he was done.

I subconsciously looked at the wooden table I kept in my room; more specifically, where I kept the remains of it in a box. I felt a hot tear rising in my eyes, but blinked it away. I never did have that many games for it anyways.

_Besides, this is a more important matter._ Conscious returning, I looked around the room, and found my DS lying on the floor, next to a table leg. I must have dropped in shock from the news. Slowly, I picked it up and held it to my chest. Was this how I was going to die, seeing my wish come true with no one the wiser?

At that moment, I could feel a light from the DS blinking, blinding my eyes. Curious, I opened it and more text was scribbling itself on the screens. Quickly, forgetting my recent depression, I wiped my eyes with my shirt and continued to read on.

**HOWEVER, the other gods decided that a full-out invasion would be too ...unfair to your species (besides, even as the creator of worlds, I cannot merely show myself in your planet unannounced). Therefore, I have made a way to make this war a little... unorthodox, but fair. Your actions towards the franchise show you are a true fan, both to the games, and the species. But does that make your species worthwhile to live, even as you continue to destroy your world, day by day? My rules will help you show me if your species are justified to continue your survival. Here is the procedure you will follow:**

**1. You will each have ONE Pokemon, decided randomly, to serve as your 'partner' in the form of a Pokemon egg.**

**2. Hatch it from its egg**

**3. You and 99 others have received this message and you will engage in a Pokemon battle with them when either party engages one another. More instructions on this topic will be introduced momentarily**

**4. You have 1 year to battle as many fellow 'trainers' as possible. Further instructions involving this step will be shown after this step is completed**

*** Any player that does not abide these rules will be ejected from the game and forget any involvement of it.**

**Hopefully, after the fourth step is completed, we will not even have to engage ourselves in a planetary conflict. This game is to show me that you are willing to accept the responsibilities of being a 'trainer' (as your games and media call it) and realize the dire consequences of your actions. I may call this a 'game', but for you, I am sure this will be more of a 'survival' situation.**

**Don't think of me as being cruel or sadistic, I merely wish to see if you are willing to truly embrace your wish of meeting Pokemon. After all, I am no God, compared to your world's fictitious beliefs, but I am the closest there is.**

At that moment, a memory painfully dug its way out of my brain and heard it play it contents.

_I wish to see such a world filled with these wonders..._ Thinking that, I literally facepalmed myself. Why did I have to think that at such a moment! "Grrh..." was all that I could say to vent my frustration and stress on. I could have just hollered out "God damn it all!" into the sky, but my family were all in the house and attention was definitely not what I needed right now. I focused back to the miniscule text and continued reading.

**Now, show me you have what it take to save not only your own life, but your Pokemon's, and ultimately, your world! I hope you do not fail me...**

After that, the message slowly erased itself from the white background and another came into focus.

**Touch the Touch Screen to continue...**

"Wait... I have a choice?" I whispered aloud to myself. "I don't have to get involved in this crazy war and risk my life? Oh thank God!"

I couldn't believe what I was seeing! After that crazy announcement about war and survival and stuff, I never expected to I could choose to participate! Right then, I just had no other priorities in my mind but to shut the console off, crush it in my hands, and never lay eyes on it again. My thumb was just touching the 'POWER' button when that familiar voice came whispering into my ear.

_Be careful... this is a life-time opportunity, here. Think; you always complain about how boring your average school days are, and not even joining the school bands and sports teams could keep your hunger for excitement in check! But hey, it's not my decision. You can just turn it off and ignore it like nothing happened or you can play along and have a reason to wake up another day. Just think about it, will you..._

I can't believe I'm saying this, but my subconscious had a point. I do join whatever clubs and teams I could and wanted to seek excitement and risks and (possible) dangers that came along with it. But all that did was made my schedules tighter and tighter, leaving no room for freedom or fun or creativity. I wanted to enjoy my life, like any other human being, not be forced to follow obligations or guilt. Hell, if I was a kid right now, playing my first Pokemon game, I would be like, "Yeah! Sign me up, Pokemon League, here I come!"

I chuckled to myself at the thought. Sure why not? I thought to myself in a rather evil tone (I always admired the villains of TV shows and comics. I probably picked the evil voice in my head from there). I never did like the way I lived right now. Besides, what did mom say when these kinds of chances showed themselves...?

_When a golden opportunity shows itself right in your face, you know you have to take it._

"Thanks for the advice, mom." I said to myself, although my mom was probably sleeping in the other room, tired from working in the morning. I moved my thumb from the button and brought it above the Touch Screen.

"Bring it on, Arceus... I'll play your game." I whispered.

**Tap**


	3. Expectations

John's POV

A bright blue light from the DS blinded me. Right now, I just gaped mindlessly but could not say anything. But I was certainly thinking of everything.

_Alright, let's do this. I ain't gonna bitch out now from a chance like this. Hell, I doubt I can!_

After a few seconds, the light faded away, so I opened his eyes and looked around to see anything different.

_Huh, I expected the egg to pop out somewhere_. I looked down at his hands which held my DS and oddly enough, it was gone_! What the...?_ Instead, I felt a new sensation under my shirt. I pulled back my sleeve and I was wide-eyed at what I saw.

On my arm was a bulky, oval-shaped device. It had a primary colour of blue, but had stripes of red outlining the edges. Near the middle of it was a white button, and I thought "Obviously..." to, that looked like the iconic Pokeball logo, besides it a regular round black one. I pressed the Pokeball-shaped button. Instantly a slot ejected itself from the outer edge of the device. I smirked: a Pokeball. It was about the size of a softball and weighed just like it. The upper half of the ball was painted red while the lower hemisphere was painted white. And, of course, at the middle of it was its button, the size of, well, a button you would find on a sweater or a shirt.

_Of course the Pokeball would be about this big. How can something like this shrink itself to something that is smaller than a golf ball?_

Immediately, I grabbed the ball and pressed the button. Suddenly, I felt pressure coming from the Pokeball, as if it was about to pop. In surprise I dropped the sphere, letting a loud **TINK!** on the wooden floor. It clicked open and let out a bright white light. I closed my eyes, and when the light cleared, I saw what the Pokeball let out beside it: a positively gigantic egg, about the size of a beachball.

_So that's the egg Arceus was talking about._I grabbed the egg and was surprised to find it was very warm. I put it on my bed and covered it with blankets. With the egg out of the way, I grabbed the open-and now empty-Pokeball from the ground and set it next to me as I sat down on my bed. I quietly continued to tinker with the strange device, letting out an occasional **Blip!** and **Bing!** from what he could tell, a combination of the PokeNav and the Poketch from the games.

(Now, I could talk about the machine all night to tell you about its... well, weirdness, but that would take too long! So I'll tell more about it later! But for now, it will be simply called "PokeNav")

Finally, with the technicalities out of the way, I continued on to press the black button. When he did, the device's upper half began to rotate and flip itself and expose its underside, which was a screen about twice the size of a DSi XL's screen. On it light gradually filled it and text began to scribble itself on it.

_Uggh_, _MORE_ _READING_!

**Congratulations. If you are reading this, that means you have accepted my offer and are participating in my game. Kudos to you.**

**The device you have on your arm right now is my version of what you call the PokeNav, although it is far more advanced and developed than it ("Advanced? Please, this thing has to weigh 10 pounds!"). You will have possession of the PokeNav until the game is over. When is the game over? When only one trainer is left in the game or the 1 year time limit ends.**

**Now, about the battling part of the game. This is probably the part you look towards the most. As you know from playing the games, a battle is commenced when a trainer approaches another trainer and they pull out their respective Pokemon to face each other in combat. The battle is over when one's Pokemon can no longer fight, and don't worry about when it is over; you will know when it is over. Also, do not worry about the loser of the battle. Once the Pokemon loses, their respective trainer will have their PokeNav destroyed and lose all of their memories of involvement of the game.**

**I expect great things from you, and hope for your success.**

The screen then blacked out and I closed the screen of the PokeNav and took it off to put it on my wooden table (my arm was starting to sweat from being constricted from its straps).

_So, now there's no turning back now, is there, Arceus?_

Then I remembered the egg covered in blankets on his bed and removed the sheets. I narrowed my eyes at what I saw: the egg was covered with a faint, not obviously, but faint dark colouring. _Is that a sign that the egg is growing?_ _Man, that was fast_. I laid himself on the bed and felt something stuck under my left leg. _Oh yeah, the Pokeball. Man, how could I forget about that?_ I reached under and pulled the ball out of the folds of the bed. I looked at the interior.

_Huh, how does a Pokemon fit in this thing, anyways? Oh, what am I doing!_

I then looked around and saw my alarm and read 4:55 p.m.

_But now, I have a more important job than just leering into a damn capsule-I gotta find out how to explain myself with my family!_ I tapped the egg with the button on the Pokeball and saw the egg absorbed into it in a white light. _Wow, so that's how put a Pokemon back into its ball. Why don't they ever specify about the functions of the Pokeball and how it works?_

I slowly walked to the door, and looked outside. Nothing's changed: no one has even stirred from their original positions: Mom was busy sleeping in the opposite room, Jason was working with his laptop in a neighbouring room, and Dad was busy relaxing himself by planting himself on the couch and taking a nap.

_Wait just a moment, man. Why should your family know anything about this? This is your business, after all. Why should you let them know about your little... encounter? Besides, when they see that PokeNav and the egg, they'll probably obliterate it like your old DS and serve the egg with your bacon and toast!_

At that thought, I stopped myself and shivered in fear of the thought.

_That's right. None of them were ever too trusting of me, and they get to snoop around in my business when I never even went into Jason's room! I can't tell them about this, and I won't let them find out from me!_

I slowly closed the door and put the Pokeball back into the PokeNav and gazed around the room

_Where can I put this? The box I used to hide my DS in? No, it won't fit in there now._

_My bag? No, my mom likes to look in my bag and see if I had any failed test to lecture me at._

_Under my bed? Please! What am I, a 5 year-old! Grrrh! Where can I hide this!_

I planted myself on the bed and gave a loud moan of depression. I turned over and looked around the room, angry at my situation. I turned my eyes to the familiar gray ceiling as if expecting God to pop in his room and show him where to hide it.

_Where am I supposed to hide this, the attic?_

...

_Wait, the attic? We have an attic?_

I looked closer at ceiling and, sure enough, saw a large square hole in it, covered by a sheet of white painted plywood. Quickly, I grabbed my PokeNav (yes, that's what I'll be calling it) chair, placed it below the hole, pushed the plywood away, and used the flashlight of the PokeNav to look around the place. Unsurprisingly, the room was small, about the size of my own room, empty, if not a little dusty and had a thick, husky scent to it. And while the ambience of it was sending chills down my spine, I couldn't help but smile.

_Perfect! This place is perfect! Why haven't I found this place before? I lived in this house for 9 years, for God's sake!_

He placed the PokeNav right next to the hole and closed it up.

_Now that that's out of the way, time to take care of today's business!_

I marched downstairs to finish my homework, not that I liked doing it. But if it meant avoiding another scolding from my parents about my poor grades, I would do it gladly. However, as calm as I may have looked, I couldn't help but smirk at the thought of the egg.

_Hm... a real, live Pokemon. I wonder which one it will be..._


	4. What Kind of Pokemon are You?

John's POV

I opened my eyes and realized I fell asleep while still thinking about the Pokemon egg in the attic. Man, how did I fall asleep with that in my mind? I have 'technically' a monster in my attic just waiting to pop out and hatch. And I'm gonna be its owner? Damn. Honestly, that was all I could think about at that point. I turned my gaze from the ceiling and looked at the clock-8:00 a.m. 'Damn' is right! I need to get ready for school! I tore the blankets off of me and walked down the stairs for breakfast, but remembered: the PokeNav upstairs.

Oh yeah, that thing- I still don't really know what to do with it! Keeping it in my attic was fine for one day, but now what am I gonna do? I can't just leave it there-what if it hatches while I'm away? The Pokemon would be left loose in the house, doing who knows what! I could carry it around me all the time and wear it, but that could attract attention. Keeping it in my bag would be a good idea; I would have it around me but not all the time. But what if it hatches in class? No way am I letting that happen! The kids would ask me questions and it would feel ridiculously awkward to answer them all! Ugh!

"That's it, I'm taking it with me!" With that, I reached up the ceiling and grabbed my PokeNav. I put on a thick hoodie to hide it in my clothes. It was cold outside with winter season coming and it was a legit excuse to wear it. With it, no one can tell if I have anything to hide! I walked down the stairs and saw my mom and Jason already eating on the table cereal with milk. I grabbed a bowl and sat down between them and started to swallow my cereal like a Snorlax.

"Man, how hungry are you!" Jason remarked at my eating pace. Before I answered that question, I already finished my bowl and went to get a second serving.

"Hey, I need to go, and so do you, so why don't you eat as much as you can?"

After that, we grabbed our bags and walked to the school. I didn't show it, but I was scared stiff; Jason was walking next to me and was just inches away from touching my arm, where I kept my PokeNav. What do I say to him when he notices my arm? Should I pretend it's a toy, tell him outright, oh what do I do! The question was answered for me, however, as I saw the school in my sights. When I saw the front door, I muttered a quick "See you after school!" to my brother and ran to the door. Of course, the body from the 'incident' was removed, but yellow danger tape surrounded the front of the school, but not the entrance, so I slipped through and went to my classes.

Why would they have the front closed off if the body was taken and the scene was cleaned up? Were they looking for additional evidence? Who knows...

...

"Finally, lunch time!"

I was so glad that most of my classes were over and dragged my feet to my locker to grab my lunch and went to the cafeteria. I never buy food from the school because their menu's too overpriced. Honestly, 5 bucks for a small bowl of spaghetti? Who wastes their money for that! I sat down on the nearest seat and pulled my lunch out: 2 BLT sandwiches (made it myself last night) and 2 juice boxes. Pretty boring, but I could live with it. After all, my parents rarely make my lunches now. I'm 16 years old and I couldn't bother them with taking care of my meals. They worked half the day and didn't have the time to take care of me, after all.

I bit into my sandwich and looked around the table and saw no one else was sitting on the same table. I was glad Jason's not here to see this; he'll think I'm a loner and give me lessons on how to make friends. I did a 360 sweep around me and noticed a 10-feet circle void of people-and I was its centre. Figures. I ignored the lonely setting and continued my lunch.

Just as I finished my lunch, the PokeNav on my wrist started to ring a siren like the morning alarm clock.

Many heads turned to my direction and looked for the source of the noise. I could only whisper a quick "Oh shit!" as I had to get out of their and shut the alarm off.

_What the hell is going on? Why is it ringing?_

I sprinted out of the cafeteria like an Olympic runner and into the nearest bathroom. It seemed like a good idea at the time, as no one was in there and a stall was empty so I could retain my privacy, but the emptiness and small space of it only made the wretched thing echo, making it sound even louder. I pulled my sleeve back and pressed the black button to find out what the hell was going on. The screen, popping out, stopped the ringing and a message started typing itself on the screen.

**Pokemon egg: Ready to hatch. Please release it from its Pokeball.**

_Oh, it's just that!_

I closed the screen and pressed the red-and-white button to eject the Pokeball from its slot, and I noticed that light was leaking from the opening of it. I quickly pressed its button and the egg popped out onto my lap. I noticed that not only was it squirming and shaking, but the entire image of the egg changed. Last night, the egg looked like just a plain oversized chicken egg, but now, it was painted dark green and had dashes of pink and violet on it.

_Does the egg colour show what kind of Pokemon in it?_

As I tried to mentally list all of the Pokemon that matched the egg's colour scheme, a crack appeared on the egg and stopped my listing to gaze as it continued to destroy itself. Slowly, one big crack started to form itself on the egg and pushed itself outward. After what felt like a few minutes passed, the egg finally burst from its seams, emptying its contents and leaving shards of gooey and slimy egg shells on the bathroom stall walls. I could only gape in wonder as the Pokemon inside showed itself at last.

The Pokemon was small, only about 1-2 feet high and wide, and had a dark-greenish colour. It had big, wide eyes with red iris about twice the size of a normal person's eyes. 5 read beads were attached to its... neck (the thing didn't even look like it had a neck) and a small mouth above it was formed into a grin. The most shocking feature, however, was its hair. The hair was in short tufts, tipped with pink at the ends of each cluster and spread everywhere to make it look even more menacing up-close.

I realized from its hair and 'necklace', the Pokemon in it was the ghost-type Misdreavus, and from its first words, a very cranky one, at that.

"OH, MAN, is it good to be out of that damn thing! Seriously, now I breathe for the first time in my life without suffocating!"

The booming voice coming from the little body surprised me so much I stumbled from the toilet I sat down on. The whiny voice reminded me of me when I was 10 years old, but the voice was more feminine, revealing that the Misdreavus was a female.

"Hey, who are you supposed to be?"

I looked up and saw the Misdreavus look into I eyes with hers with a frown on her face. I tried to speak up, but my throat seemed to close itself from nervousness and fright. I could only look back with my mouth open, paralyzed.

"Hmph, whatever! Get out of my way!" That was the last thing she said before she phased through the bathroom stall door and out the bathroom.

...

_What... just happened? _

**Clank!**

At the sound, I jumped out of my skin and looked around like a madman, looking for what made the interruption. I turned my head down on the white ceramic floor and saw my open Pokeball. At that, the fact hit my face like a football tackle-that Misdreavus is my Pokemon!

"Oh God dammit!" With that, I grabbed the ball from the floor and and ran after her. The first thing I saw was a group of students looking to the right, looking like they just saw a ghost. What am I thinking, of course they was a ghost float out the bathroom! Thankfully, they didn't look at me when I dashed out the bathroom, still transfixed on the Pokemon. I could see her floating in a giant mob of students and teachers, who froze at the sight of her.

"Get out of my way! And will you stop staring at me like a freak? Seriously!" I could hear her screaming her disembodied head off all the way from the bathroom entrance (well, she is called the 'Screeching Pokemon'). That seemed to scare the crowd enough to disperse it with people running from her in all directions. Oh man, this is bad. I ran up to her and she turned to face me again.

"Oh, it's you again. Can you tell me why the hell everyone is running away from me?"

_Damn. She's only a few minutes old and she's cussing just like I did when I was a kid._ The thought of her cursing gave me a small smile, but now was not the time. I had to explain to her... well, everything.

"Listen-before I can say anything, we need to get you out of here, where we won't be surrounded with people and onlookers!" I gasped, tired from running to her.

"What! Why can't you just tell me right here, right now?" She whined. God, her voice was getting more and more annoying by the second.

"LISTEN!" I shouted back to her at the top of my lungs and that seemed to shut her up. "I don't have much time-I gotta get to my classes soon, and sadly, I can't waste too much time with you! Come with me and I'll tell you everything you wanna know!" With that, I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her to my stomach in an attempt to grab her, and ran out the school. "Hey! Let go! I can't breathe!" She cursed and struggled in my grasp, but my arms were too tight around her to hear her properly and that was a good thing, too-this way, no one could see her and I just looked like one of the pedestrians running from the 'ghost'.

I reached the back parking lot of the school and release her from my arms.

"Hey! That hurt, you know! What's wrong with you, grabbing a lady like that!" I heard her bitching at me with an angry look in her eyes, but I didn't care. I felt her coming closer to me as she screamed louder and when she got close enough, I pulled the Pokeball from my pocket (I put it there as I ran to her in the school) and tapped her forehead with the button, zapping her back in the small capsule and silencing her of her lecture.

With that done, I sat down on the ground and leaned against the wall in exhaustion. Damn, 5 minutes ago she hatched from her egg and already she's become a whiny bitch. And I'm supposed to take care of her? Great-not only do I have to care for a ghost, but a complaining, irritable bitchy one! Even with all these thoughts stressing my brain, I just panted in relief that trouble was over for now.

_Thank God that's over, though. Now I need to get to class._ I checked the watch on my PokeNav and read: 1:20 p.m.

_Shit! I'm late again!_


	5. Let's go Home

John's POV

Thankfully, I wasn't late when I reached the classroom-the teacher merely nodded his head and told me to come in. I was about to ask what was wrong when he answered before I could even take a breath.

"Hurry up and come in. Don't worry about attendance-we were all scared by that..._thing_, whatever it was."

The class only shuddered in fear in response. The teacher quickly ushered me in and closed the door and locked it. I was confused, and found it a little funny.

_What did that little puffball of a ghost Pokemon do to scare the teacher out of his pants?_ _All she did was yell at everyone to get away. Were the people that timid nowadays?_

I decided to shut up about asking that, though, and sat down on my seat-people might give me funny looks and I wasn't ready to take their crap.

Luckily, after school was over, the students emptied the building faster than the freezing wind outside, scared of the 'ghost-thing' they saw at lunch and thought it would come and haunt them if they stayed in the school. I laughed to myself quietly as one boy said that.

_Oh yes, run from the annoying, bitchy ghost if you don't want her to nag you to death!_

I smirked to myself when I thought that as I reached my locker to get out like them. And, as often as it happens, Jason had to appear out of nowhere and tell me about the ghost and tell me if I was okay, and all that fun stuff.

"Seriously, though, are you alright, because if you're hurt, I swear, mom's gonna..."

"YES, I'M FINE, OKAY?" Although I didn't like to yell, I was peeved off by his constant badgering-not only was it boring and droning into my skull, but it reminded me of the Misdreavus's lecture. I turned my head to my locker and smiled a little at the thought.

Jason looked at me with an incredulous look on his face. "Why are you smiling? We just saw a frickin' ghost in the school! _How_can you smile at a time like this!"

I realized what I did and mentally cursed at myself for that. I had to think of an excuse... come on...

I said back to him with a wide smirk on my face, "Oh, it's just that my last class's teacher was scared shitless about the ghost and he's doing the same thing you are."

...

I was lucky that day, as it was a Wednesday, and that meant my mom and dad was out working her night shift, Jason had to work his shift at a local McDonald's, meaning I had the entire house to myself (hell yeah!).

I took my Pokeball out of the PokeNav and was ready to release the Misdreavus out with everyone gone, but right when I grabbed the ball from the pocket, a big fat roar of mental **NO!** echoed in my head, making me gasp in fear and realization of what I was doing.

_Dear God man, think about what you're doing! Letting that immature puffball float around the house! Have you lost it? She'll wreck half the place down! She's a Pokemon to, so who knows__how__ she'll do it? Besides, she hates you right now-she's probably just waiting for you to open the ball and then she's gonna let all hell break loose!_

"Oh God..." That was a scary thought-and a very possible one, too. Who knows what kind of attacks she's gonna kill me with! I shook such a thought away, though, and went to think about how to solve this new problem: how to get a whiny Pokemon to cooperate with me.

A lot harder than it sounds, let me tell you.

_Wow, this is a lot harder than the games, or even the anime made it look like._ And it was tricky, too-how was I going tell her that she was mine to take care of and how it would prevent a war with the God of Pokemon! Hell, she probably wouldn't even listen to me and float off on her own to who-knows-where and ditch me. And there are 99 other trainers waiting to battle her! How was I gonna take care of that! She could-no, she _will_die if she decides to fight some random Pokemon. And how was she going to fight? As far as I know, fresh-born Pokemon rarely had any attacks to defend themselves!

_Dammit, this is impossible!_

"How... how... how..." I found myself repeating the word to myself after contemplating to myself. But I was rather surprised when I realized I was..._crying_. Was I actually crying because of a damn Pokemon! I felt hot tears fall from my face and onto the woollen carpet below.

_No, I shouldn't be like this because of a simple additional responsibility. Man up a bit, will you? _

I wiped the tears with my hoodie sleeve. Afterwards, I went to put my shoes on and lock the door behind me.

"Damn it. I need a walk to think this out..."

...

I walked out the door and walked to my school. It wasn't the most creative place to contemplate my thoughts, but it was better than my house. I noticed that no one was at the school-no cars were at the parking lot and it was too cold to play any sports outside.

_This is perfect. Now I can talk to her without being caught._ Honestly, though, I had no idea what to say to her-even after a full half-hour of wondering what to say, I couldn't think of a good explanation. I ultimately decided to tell her flat-out what was going on, where she is, and who I am.

I went behind the school and pulled out the Pokeball out.

_It's now or never._

I pressed the button and released the familiar dark-green ghost Pokemon from its contents.

"GAAH! What the hell was that for, you bastard!" And of course she was pissed at me for keeping her locked until now.

"Look, I'm sorry for keeping you in the Pokeball, and..."

"Damn straight you should be! You know how crushed I was when you zapped me in that thing?"

_Wow, she's lecturing more than my dad, and that's saying something!_

I decided to shut up and let her pent out whatever complaints she had. I started to feel my eyes stinging but quickly blinked it away-it was hard seeing such a creature angry, but I swallowed my pity-I stopped crying once I left the house and was not about to break down now. After what felt like 10 minutes, she started to gasp for breath from her extenuating speech.

"So, you're done talking?" I cautiously asked her as she floated down to the concrete ground against the school's brick wall to rest better.

"Not really... I just... need a break..." She panted.

I decided to stab at her with a few statements of my own at that moment. "Please let me talk for a minute now. You are at my school, DulcetDrift High School, where you hatched from your egg in the morning, making you technically mine. You left me without letting me explaining everything before you decided to walk (or in your case, fly) out on me, terrorizing all those kids you told to 'stop staring'."

After she took a few more breaths to collect herself, she retorted back to me "Well they deserved it! They looked at me like I was a freak! They even ran away from me screaming like I was a monster! I know I'm a ghost Pokemon, but I'm not that scary!"

I was honestly not expecting the backtalk, but kept calm and sat next to her. "Well, they just never saw a Misdreavus before, or even Pokemon, for that matter."

"What!" She gasped at my statement and hesitated for a second, as if she was frozen with confusion, but went on, with her pink bangs shivering in anger. "Then why were they screaming "A Pokemon on the loose!" and all that kind of stuff!" She turned to me and glared with her wide eyes. If I was looking at her, I probably would have been too intimidated to talk back, but I looked forward at the bright red sky, with the sun setting.

"Let me correct myself: they never saw a _real, live_ Pokemon before." I told her calmly. She took a minute to digest this fact and pressed on.

"Then... how do you or even they know I'm a Pokemon?"

This was the question I was expecting the most-how could I tell her she was just a monster from a game I play? Now it was my turn to hesitate.

"Do you really want to know?" I said with a trembling voice, but she ignored the trebling and insisted.

"Of course I do! Why, you think I can't handle it!" Admittedly, I was slightly impressed with her directness, and rewarded her with an explanation.

"In the world you're in now, the term 'Pokemon' is nothing but a brand of games for entertainment for kids like me. For us, Pokemon are nothing more than imaginary monsters to train and take care of, all in the games of course." I then started to explain the basic game mechanics and plot of the games to her and sealed the deal.

This obviously stunned her into silence. She just looked down to the ground with her mouth slightly ajar, as if she was hypnotized at the gravels and rock in the ground. I felt horrible, torn, and sorry for her when I said my reason. Again, the stinging of tears reached my eyes, but I shook the urge to cry again-I told her the truth and I have nothing to regret saying it. A few minutes later, she started to talk again.

"So...I'm not...real? I don't...exist? I'm just a..._monster?_" I heard her tremble in depression and hopelessness. "I...don't..."

I wanted to wrap my arms around her and comfort her, to calm her, but retracted my arm. That would probably make her more pissed off than she was now-children sad or angry like her always react violently when an older figure tried to comfort them. Instead, I turned my head and looked at her. She was crying quietly, without any sniffles or cries, but I saw water drop from her face and onto the ground, leaving drops of black on the dusty ground.

"No. You do exist-you being here right now and talking to me prove that you are real. And as far as I'm concerned, you are no monster; just the ghost Pokemon Misdreavus, nothing more, nothing less, and I don't see why I have to be scared of you. So don't think you're scary just because you think you are. If you want to be scary, feel free, but if you don't, don't feel like you are." I tried to keep my voice steady as possible, but cracked a little when I said 'monster'. I knew I had to be tough-I couldn't show her my pity towards her or she would just tell me to fuck off or something like that, and I did not want that (and _you_probably don't want that either!) I stood up to my feet and looked down at her. She heard me stand and looked up back at me. She had tears in her eyes, but looked me right into mine, all embarrassment forgotten, as if she was about to declare something.

All of a sudden, a strong wind came blowing right into our faces. I had my hoodie on, so I was okay, except for my face, but the Misdreavus received a full blast of the gust, making her close her eyes in shock and blasting her pink hair in all directions. After the wind left, she was left shivering and clenched her lips as if that could retain her body heat.

"Cold?" I asked her with a small smile on my face. She remained quiet and shut her eyes in frustration. Before she could talk back, I grabbed her from the ground and wrapped her in my arms to my chest.

"Hey! W-wha-what do y-you think y-you're doing!" She yelled back at me with her old flare in her voice, but looked away from her and started to walk away from the school.

"I'm keeping you warm. Why should you complain? Aren't you cold?" I asked with my smile growing wider, but keeping my eyes off of her and ahead of me.

"Ye-yeah, but I never a-asked you to help! Besides, why don't you just put me in the Pokeball like last time?"

"You said you didn't like being stuffed into 'that thing' so this is the best way to keep you warm." I retorted back." I started to walk back home, admiring the red sunset as I went along.

"Unless..." I let go her gently and looked to her, with as much seriousness in my voice. "you prefer I left you alone. Seeing as you do not like to be with me very much, why don't you just leave now and solve both our troubles?" She hovered eye-level to me with a confused and nervous look in her eyes, as if she was just told she was about to take a shot for the flu.

"My job as your owner is to take care of you, at least until you grow up to take care of yourself. But if you do not want me to be your owner and think you can look after yourself now, I see no reason why I should just leave you here with your ball. That way, no one else can take you and I would be relieved of the responsibility of raising you." I said this with a light tone, but the Misdreavus seemed to take this to the heart, as if she was in a trance with my words.

"...Or you can come and live together with me. What do you say?"

The ghost Pokemon looked down at the ground for a while before she answered back with a small grin. "Well, I don't have much of a choice now, do I? So, yeah, I'll come with you."

I gave her the widest smile I could and wrapped her in my arms again and started to walk again. "Really? That's good to here. I don't want to go knowing I just left you here, freezing to death."

...

After a few minutes passed, as I started to give her a brief introduction around the neighbourhood, she asked me a question:

"Why did you give me a choice to whether if I could leave or stay with you? You're my owner, so you could have just yelled at me to stay with you or put me in the Pokeball again."

I thought to myself for a few seconds before I answered back. "I don't want to force a fellow being to do things they don't want to do. Besides, I don't like to yell. Scares me almost as much as the victims of my hollering." I waited for her to respond, but heard none, so I continued. "If you want to leave me, then that's fine, but tell me before you go and take your Pokeball with you-I was serious when I asked you if you wanted to leave me."

At this point, I could see my house and told her we were here, but I remembered something important.

"Oh yeah! I forgot to give you a name!" I felt her glare at me through my arms, angry with me, so I quickly corrected myself. "Of course, we don't have to give you a name, or you can make one up yourself, if you want!"

She kept silent, but I kept walking and approached the front door when I felt her mumble something from her lips. I let go of my hold on her so she could face me.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you."

When she answered me, I could have sworn I saw a blush on her face, but ignored it. "What do you think my name should be?"

"Hmm..." It was a legit question, but I couldn't think of any possibilities. I only knew her for an hour or so, so naming her was difficult. However, when I did thought up a name for her, it was my turn to blush and asked her to come closer so I could whisper it to her.

"What, are you that nervous about naming me? Is it because I'm a girl?" She said with a mischievous tone, but ignored her and told her to come closer, this time obliging.

After I told her the name, the dark on her cheeks were clear and I laughed a little. "So you like that?"

All she could do was grunt a quick "Yeah..." and look at the door. I understood her embarrassment and unlocked the door with the key I had in my pocket and opened the door.

"Well, welcome to my home, Maria."

**What do you think? Like it? Hate it? Please read & review!**


	6. My Accommodations

Maria's POV

I made my way through the door and gazed at the ambience of the house. Honestly, despite never seeing how the interior of a house looked like, it looked very boring. The walls were dark-green and the floor was white, similar to the way that school's floor looked.

"Well, this is rather...plain."

"Well, that's a nice compliment to someone who just offered a place for you." I heard John respond spitefully to my comment. I froze as I realized what I just did. This boy was kind enough to give me a place to live other than that accursed Pokeball, or whatever he called it, and I just made fun of it! I turned around to see him with a disappointed look on his face.

"I'm so... I'm sorry." I managed to stutter out, looking down. I was never good at apologies, and my face heating up again didn't make things better for me.

I bowed my head to the floor and suddenly heard a chuckle coming from John. "What's so funny?"

He turned to me and responded with small grin on his face. "Oh, it's just that this is the first time I heard you apologize. I never expected that from someone like you." and he continued to snicker through his answer. I quickly turned my head to avoid showing him my face, which at this point was positively flushed.

"Well, I really am sorry for making fun of your house." I said back to him, trying to stop my voice from stuttering.

He walked past me and waved his hand in disinterest. "Ahh, don't worry about it. I never liked this place that much anyways." With that, he walked into a room and began to prepare what I think was a meal. He sat down on a chair besides a wooden table and started to eat. Being a ghost-type, I don't need to eat, but the sight of him eating...whatever it was that he was eating made me subconsciously lick my lips.

"What, you hungry?" I heard him speak up but didn't take his eyes off his food. I floated next to him and responded carelessly, facing the other direction.

"Nah. I'm a ghost-type, so there's really no point of me, or any other ghost Pokemon to consume food. This may sound weird, but I feed on the fears of people through my five beads on my neck. I can eat if I want, though."

"So you don't get your energy from food, but from people's fears? So if a person saw you and ran away just like at the school, the fear they 'give off', you take in through your little 'necklace'?

"Something like that, yeah." With that he nodded his head and reached into his pocket and took out what looked like a white pill from a package filled with a dozen more of them.

"What's that?" I asked curiously.

"Chewing gum. You said you don't eat, but I can't just sit here with you just staring at me. Besides, you look tired. Careful now-don't swallow it, just chew." He responded with a bored tone in his voice.

I looked at him suspiciously, as if this...gum was to poison me, but I trusted him so far and not taking it would be rude. I managed to grab the pill with a bit of my psychic power and brought it up to my mouth and started to chew. I didn't know what was in it, but it tasted great! A sweet minty flavour grew in my mouth, if not a little strong, and I started to chew faster, stretching it in my mouth, trying to extract more of the flavour. I closed my eyes and moaned in satisfaction. He was right-I needed this.

"Oh, that tastes good..." was all I managed to say. I opened my eyes and saw him staring at me with his mouth slightly open. "What? What is it?" He shook himself awake from his trance before he answered back.

"Wha...? Oh, sorry. I just never thought you could make the gum just float in the air like that. You scared me for a moment!" With that, he started laughing sheepishly and turned to his food again. I merely smiled and we continued with our dinners.

...

After the meal, he showed me around the house, from the bedrooms to the bathroom (I could only imagine what that was for!) At first I thought the house with be empty with a few rooms, but each room he showed me was very different from each other. Some were bland, some were colourful, but all were interesting. At the end of our little 'tour', he asked aloud to himself:

"Now where will you sleep?"

At this question, we were both stumped. All the rooms were being used, or filled with so much junk I couldn't breathe with the dust. He entered his own room and groaned into his bed in frustration. I felt bad for him-he was just trying to help me and he was struggling so hard to find a way. I couldn't let him beat himself up so I suggested that I would sleep in my Pokeball, but he rejected the idea instantly, saying that sleeping uncomfortably was worse than not getting any sleep at all. How he sees logic in this, I do not know, but I decided against arguing with him: I was tired and didn't want to waste my strength on pointless fighting. After not able to think of anything for a few minutes, I lied down on the bed next to him, trying to find comfort in its soft texture. I felt him turn around to breathe and sigh.

"Damn. Maybe you're right. Maybe the Pokeball's the best place for you..." Hearing this I was about to tell him to grab my Pokeball out.

But he had a different plan.

"OH THAT'S RIGHT!" At his sudden exclamation, I shot up to the air in surprise and nearly smashed my head on the ceiling. I looked down and saw him look up at me.

"Dear God, what was that for?" I screamed at him, but he was too busy looking at some square hole in the ceiling. I looked at him and back to the hole again. It took a few moments, but I finally understood what he meant.

"What? You think I can sleep up there?" I asked him with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, why not? I saw that room before and it was empty, so it would be perfect for you. Besides, as long as you don't make too much noise, no one will know that you're up there. It's perfect!" He turned to me with a big smile on his face. I was sceptical, but decided to give it a shot.

"Fine, I'll go take a look..." and with that I phased through the thin covering of the hole and looked in. Despite being dark, being a ghost-type meant I have a better vision in darkness than most others, so it wasn't a big problem. I did a quick 360 around the room but couldn't find anything, aside from a few dusty cobwebs here and there and a small window near the roof, letting in a bit of the fading sunlight. I heard the covering of the hole being moved and saw his head enter the hole.

"Hey, how is it? I can't really tell because it's too dark for me, but can you see how it is? I can't even see you in here!" He asked me with a scared look on his face.

The fact that he couldn't see me gave me a smile and an idea. I floated as quietly as I could and snuck up behind him, and yelled a big fat "BOO!" right next to his face. The reaction, as I predicted, was priceless: he gave a short but loud scream and jumped about a foot into the air. He had to grab onto the edge of the hole to recover and took a few breaths of air to calm down. I felt the pearls on me grow hot as it responded to his little fright, warming me up a little in the process.

"What was that for?" He screamed at me. I should be feeling sorry for him and apologize, but all that came out of my mouth was a non-stop stream of laughter. Honestly, I couldn't stop! I felt myself drop to the floor as I laughed too hard to keep floating and tried to give an excuse through my giggles.

"Sorry, I just had to do that! It was just such a perfect opportunity! You see, that's how I'm supposed scare people and feed myself, alright? Ahahahaha!" I opened my eyes after I recovered and saw his eyes glare at me, with a huge frown on his face, but I didn't care; I was laughing too hard, after all!

"Goddamn it, Maria..." I heard him mutter to himself. "Alright. Now let's see how I'm supposed to hide you from my parents..."

...

Eventually, we got all the technicalities out of the way and by then, it was already almost 11:00. With all of John's family here and all complications between me and John resolved, I decided to sleep. Sitting on the table in the room, he wanted to confirm one last time with me.

"So are you okay with where you're gonna be sleeping?" he asked me, while he sat on the bed in front of me.

"I told you, don't worry about it. I'm fine with where I'm staying. As long as you keep your parents and your brother from finding me out, I'm good." I responded with a smile and a nod.

He smiled back at my certainty. "Okay then, lights out it is then." He then walked up to the light switch and turned the lights off, covering the room in darkness. I heard him land loudly on his bed as he muttered "Oh that feels good..." under his breath, before I floated up to my room.

I saw the large soft white blanket John laid out for me before he would let me sleep in here. I used my psychic powers again to wrap myself in the thick folds of the blanket. It was surprisingly warm and comfortable as the blanket created a soft surface for me to lie on instead of the hard wooden one.

_This does feel good_. That was all I could think of as I slowly drifted to sleep.

...

I tore my eyes open all of a sudden. I found myself shaking from the cold air and covered in sweat. I looked around and saw nothing around me, but was still shaking from the freezing atmosphere.

_What just happened? Did I have a nightmare or something? Oh that's rich, a ghost Pokemon having a nightmare!_

I looked out the window and saw that it was still night-time, with the crescent moon shining light through the window. _Wow, the moon….oh, what am I doing? I should get back to sleep!_ With that, I tried to relax and fall asleep and lay myself on the blankets again, but they were soaked from my sweat and left a icy sensation on my skin, making it impossible to touch the blankets without freezing myself.

"Damn." I said to myself and realized John was sleeping right below me; _I should keep quiet. I don't want to wake someone up while they're sleeping!_And then it hit me: maybe I could sleep in his bed, just for tonight.

_Wait, what am I thinking! __Sleeping in the same bed as him?_ Instantly I flushed at the thought, feeling my body temperature increase. _But I can't do that! It's too awkward! Ohh…_

I phased through the ground and saw John asleep covered with a thick sheet to keep him warm, his arms outstretched as though he was inviting me to sleep on his bed.

_Wow, so that's how he sleeps at night? I hate to see how he wakes up._

As much as I wanted to laugh right then, I knew it would blow my cover if I made myself heard. I felt the air brush against my wet skin, so I knew I had to sleep using his bed tonight.

_Just for tonight, though! After that, I'm never sleeping like this again!_ So I tried, as quietly as I could, to dig myself into his furry blanket and pressed my body to his, trying to get warm. Instantly I found myself heating up by the second-and not just from the blanket.

_Oh man, this would suck if he decided to wake up now…oh please don't wake up..._

…

"So you really did decide to sleep with me, Maria?"

_Oh shit._

I tried to fly away back up as fast as I could when I heard him, but he quickly wrapped his blanket around my body, keeping me shut instead. I tried to wriggle out, but his arms kept me from escaping the blanket's thick grip. I tried to scream, but the blanket muffled my pleas for help, only coming out as a loud buzz. I felt his eyes stare into mine and felt my cheeks getting hot again. Even thought the dark kept him from seeing me clearly, it felt like he could even see through me, making me feel even hotter.

"Maria, please calm down. If you want to sleep with me, that's fine, but please keep quiet! I don't want to wake everyone up, especially at this time of the night!" I hear him whisper loudly to me. I heard his pleas and realized what I was doing, and stopped struggling against the tightness of the blanket. After a while, I felt the grip lessen and managed to free myself. I took a few deep breathes to regain my composure and floated back onto the bed, this time properly wrapped in his blanket.

"What the hell was that for, constricting me like that!" I whispered loudly to him under the thick woolen sheet. He merely grinned nervously.

"I knew you would try to run away, so had to act fast-and it was a good thing, too, because it looked like you were about to scream, and I can't have that, especially now." I heard him hiss to me, but with a slight hint of laughter in it. I wanted to scream out in protest at that statement, but realized that he was right. I just looked at his eyes and asked with embarrassment,

"How long were you up for?" I heard him laugh quietly to himself before answering.

"I woke up when I felt you crawl up to me in the blanket. Why did you decide to sleep here instead, though? Didn't you say that you were fine with how you slept?"

I tried to think of a good lie to tell him, but I ended up blurting out the truth before I could close my mouth. "I think I had a nightmare. I woke up covered with sweat and tried to sneak in here… just for tonight, though, so shut up about it!" I said that last part as I saw him grow a smirk on his face. Thank God it was so dark; otherwise he would have seen me completely red!

"Alright, alright! Feel free to sleep here for now. I won't poke fun at you for having a bad night, okay? Just calm down and go to sleep-I'm tired and I want to wake up tomorrow." He said grumpily to me, and turned away from me, trying to fall asleep again. I saw this and felt sick in my stomach (although I probably have none). After a few minutes, the feeling wouldn't go away and realized: this is what guilt was. I knew that I had to do to get rid of it but hesitated in doing so; what if he's already asleep?

"If you want to say something, feel free." I gasped and felt my heart (I definitely don't have one of those!) skip a beat when I heard him speak to me.

"What do you mean?" I tried to explain myself but he cut me off.

"Please, don't try to hide it-you've be tossing and turning for a while now. Just tell me what's wrong and we can both go to sleep."

I decided that it would be best if I just let it all out now, so I answered truthfully to him.

"Well, I guess… I'm just a bit sorry for being a nuisance to you. I caused that massive panic at your school, and now you gave me a place to sleep...and through it all, I've been doing nothing but complain." Suddenly, I felt an arm reach across me and helped the blanket cover me tighter. Before I could ask what he was doing, he answered me.

"Don't worry. You'll get used to it." With that, I heard him finally drowse off and snore in relaxation. I could only look at him with a smile on my face and snuggled closer to him, not only for warmth, but for comfort.

_This is going pretty well. But sleeping with a boy, it's...well, I can't complain. It's nice, a lot better than sleeping by myself._

_But after tonight, I'm off to sleep in my own bed. Although...sleeping like this wouldn't be so bad..._


	7. First Day of School

John's POV

**BREEEEP! BREEEEP! BREEEEP! BREEEEP!**

"Gah!"

I lifted my torso and into a sitting position as soon as I heard my alarm ring. I also noticed that another voice said the same thing right beside me. I glanced to my left and saw Maria-and according to her facial expression, she was even more frightened of the alarm as I was.

_Wha... What just... oh yeah... last night..._

I craned my head to look at the clock: 7:10 a.m. I shook my head awake and turned to her, who was also shaking herself awake.

"So, you awake now?" I said to her with a small smile on my face. It was nice, having someone sleep next to me. When I was younger, Jason and I slept on my bed, since it was so big. But now, we sleep in our own individual rooms. I became so used to someone else sleeping with me, that it took me almost an hour before I doze off.

I got out of the bed and quickly washed my face in the bathroom. Rarely does anyone other than me wake up this early in the morning, especially with my parents' night shifts and Jason's yesterday. I climbed down the stairs and fixed myself some toast with strawberry jam. I turned my head and saw Maria with a hungry look on her face with her eyes glued to the plate full of warm bread. Instantly, I broke into a smile and laughed at her.

"You want some? I could make more, if you want." Hearing this, she just dove in the pile of toast and started to shake a slice of toast like a dog eating a hunk of meat.

"Whoa, calm down! You eat like that, you're gonna choke!" But despite saying this, I couldn't help but smile at her actions as she chewed the piece of toast.

_She's just like a pet dog..._

_..._

After eating breakfast, I decided to leave early for school-I wouldn't have to explain to my family who Maria was just yet-they would freak out and probably hurt her in panic. I got my schoolbag ready and walked out the door. I saw Maria hover next to me and thought of the talk we had last night about what she would do when I was absent.

...

"_Now, what am I gonna do when I'm at school with you?"_

"_Why don't you just take me with you to school?" She asked me instantly._

"_If I do that, then people might run around screaming their heads off. I don't want another incident like that happening again." I retorted back._

"_Well then, I am I supposed to do for the 7 hours you're gone for? Just stay here and sleep? No way! I feel bored just talking about that!"_

"_I could keep you in your Pokeball." I said this with a smirk. "That way, you won't scare anyone and-technically-you would be at the school with me."_

"_Oh God, no way! I would rather stay here bored than be crushed into that thing!" I knew how persistent she was, so I had to think of a compromise fast._

"_How about this then: we'll go to school together. I'll keep you in your ball when I have to go to my classes; that way, you won't scare the crap out of other people and I'll be able to keep you in check. I'll let you out when school's over, so you won't be stuck in your ball 'all the time'. How's that? If you think you got a better idea, I'm willing to listen." Honestly, that wasn't a very good idea at all, but it was the only one I could think of at the time._

_I saw her ponder about this idea for a while, but stopped thinking and decided to surrender to my decision._

"_Fine, but it's gonna be fun when I see people running away, again!"_

...

As I walked, I tried to fully explain both of I situation to her: about how there are others like us and how they have to battle and why. It wasn't easy; she kept complaining about why she was involved in such a situation and I let her anger out on me by pulling on my hair and punching me across the face with her psychic power (which I deduced as a form of the move 'Confusion'-although the name may make it seem a bit odd, the move was no more than a small telekinetic force, which the move is described as) However, she lightened up and smiled widely when I said she might be fighting some people like me, especially after yesterday's little show.

"Really? I get to fight someone? Alright! This is gonna be great!" She said to me while doing a little twirl of excitement around me.

I looked at her with a confused look. "Wait, you want to fight?"

She turned to me with an ecstatic look on her face. "Yeah, of course I'm gonna fight! You know how boring it would be if we just lived like now? I need some excitement in my life!"

I wanted to object, say that I didn't want her to get hurt, or worse, killed, but realized-that's exactly why I agreed to Arceus's game-for excitement. _God, I'm so stupid..._ I cursed at myself silently so Maria couldn't see, but still expressed my concern for her.

"But what if we get hurt from these battles?"

She answered back with no change in emotion. "I think it's worth it for a little rush now and then. What person never got hurt from playing a game of sports? Accidents happen all the time, so I expect to get hurt. Don't worry-I won't get myself killed or anything like that!" She assured me. But regardless of her words, I felt a small twinge of guilt in my stomach-_if she gets hurt, it would be my fault. I'm supposed to take care of her, but what if I let her get killed instead._ I looked to the ground feeling like I was going to throw up-and probably would from the fear of such a thing happening.

Maria noticed my mental conflicts and realized that I was genuinely worried about her. She saw this and said to me, "Look, if you don't want me to fight, fine. I won't do anything you don't want me to do. But I still want to get strong. If these trainers come for you, I need to be strong to fight them. You understand, right?" I looked at her and saw that she was completely serious. I was initially shocked-this is probably the first time I ever saw her so grim.

"Yes, I understand, but let's try to avoid fighting other for now, at least for today. We don't know who we're fighting and I want to make sure we make it alive by the end of the year." I said with a joking tone. I turned to Maria and saw her smiling and I smiled back.

By this point, I could see the school and told her we were there.

"Alright, let's hope we don't scare too many people." I said sarcastically.

"Oh please, when they see me, they're just gonna go screaming their asses off again."

"That's why I'm here. When the crowd see me with you, they'll see that they don't have to be afraid of you like last time. That's why I suggested you come with me to school today." I said with a disapproving tone.

"Okay, but don't blame me if they start running for their lives again." She said, rolling her eyes.

"Hopefully, I won't have to."

I checked the clock function on my PokeNav and noticed it was 7:50 a.m. It was going to be a while before the majority of students come in for class. However, that didn't mean we came in unnoticed. A couple of teachers were talking to each other and when I walked through the front door, they noticed Maria floating next to me. They clearly noticed her, but didn't scream or gasp, but just froze in their position and looked at the both of us. I just ignored them and walked to my locker. When I turned to a corner and stopped feeling their stares boring into me.

"Well, that didn't go as bad I thought it would." We both laughed at my remark.

I put my bag into my locker and decided to show her around the school to pass the time. Mostly the main rooms like the cafeteria and the library (where she couldn't help but break the awkward silence by screaming a quick "Boo!") After the little tour, the time was 8:20 p.m. and students were quickly populating the school's halls by the dozens. I quickly reached the bathroom and went to an empty stall.

"Well, at least we have privacy." I jokingly said. I grabbed the Pokeball and held it in my hand.

"Well, I kept my part of the plan, now it's time for you to keep your promise."

"I never thought I would say this, but I'm almost glad that I'm gonna be stuck in there. I won't have anyone stare at me like a monster." She said with a down look on her face.

"You're lucky; I wish I could hide in that ball instead of you, instead of answering everyone's questions." With that, we smirked at each other as I tapped her with the ball, zapping her into its empty contents.

"Now, how am I gonna explain to everyone about my little ghost friend..."

...

After a full 3 hours of annoying questions and boring lessons, I made my way to the cafeteria for lunch.

It wasn't long before a kid decided to sit in front of me. She had short blond hair and sported a white hoodie thinner than mine, with black jeans to match. He also had black eyes and had a pair of glasses on.

_This is getting better and better._ I started on my lunch and decided to ignore her for now, letting her start the conversation. I looked at him quickly and noticed that she was eyeing my wrists.

_Is she one of the trainers? Is that why she's looking at my wrist? For my PokeNav?_I didn't pull up my sleeves or anything, but one could see the outline of the PokeNav if they looked hard enough.

"Don't look so scared. You should've expected a fellow trainer to come find you, especially after your little 'introduction' with that Misdreavus yesterday." I heard her say in a rather cocky voice.

"Oh, trying to be a smart-ass, I see." I said back with the same tone as her.

"Hey, I'm not accusing anybody. But with that Misdreavus, it's obvious that you're its trainer. Especially with the way you grabbed it and ran away with it." she said with a bit of laughter.

"So, you saying you want to fight me?" I said while looking at her. I didn't want Maria to fight a complete stranger, but I knew she would do it anyways, regardless of what I thought.

"Correction, I want my Pokemon to fight your Misdreavus. Remember the game? No need to get our hands bloody when we only need them to fight." It could have been her idea, or her tone of voice, but she was pissing me off either way. Who wants an animal to fight one another like slaves?

"What if I disagree and decided not to fight you? I never saw anything in the rules that we _have_to fight, or one can force another to fight." I may have sounded like a complete pussy, but I wanted to avoid fighting for now. At least until I get Maria trained up a bit.

"If you read the second set of instructions, you should know that the winner, or the last man in the game, will receive a special prize." When she said that, I immediately perked up.

"What? What kind of prize?" When I said that, I immediately regretted it. Why did I care if there was a prize in the end? I just wanted to make it out of this little war alive.

"Interested? Sorry, but I don't know what it is. But I do know that every trainer will be battling to get that prize. And that I'm one of them too." She said with a wide smirk with her face, making me hate her more and more.

"Don't worry, though. If you're scared of fighting that much..."

"Who said I was scared?!"

I heard Maria's voice coming from my hoodie pocket-I wanted to let her out for lunchtime to relax-and all of a sudden, like Jessie's Wobbuffet from the anime, popped herself out of the ball and appeared next to me, with an angry scowl directed at the boy. Other students saw this and looked at us. I started to get red from the sudden attention, but Maria ignored them and continued with her rant.

"What made you think I'm afraid? Okay, I know this guy," She said while gesturing to me, who was speechless at her sudden appearance. "is scared, but I'm not, and I can kick your ass anyday!"

I was completely baffled with my mouth open; from her escaping from her Pokeball to the fact she just challenged a complete stranger. I felt even more eyes fall on me and burn my entire body until it turned to a crisp. I wanted to tell her to get back in her Pokeball and stay shut, saving me from further embarrassment, but my words betrayed me.

"How can you do that? You don't even have any legs." I said with a smirk on my face.

"..."

And of course, everybody in the cafeteria heard that and screams of fear filled the air.

Now every one of us turned red; me, Maria and the girl. Thankfully shequickly told us to meet with him after school at the small forest behind the school, which both of us promised to her. I quickly realized I forgot to ask her name, but before I could ask, she did it for me.

"By the way, what's your name?"

"John. Yours?"

"Jess. Remember, after school, at the forest." And with that she calmly walked out of the cafeteria, trying her best to ignore the rowdy crowd who was still laughing at my joke.

I continued to look at Jess as she left. Maria turned to me with a grouchy look on her face. "I don't like her."

I smiled and looked at her. "You too? Well, we don't have to fight her, you know."

She turned to me with angry eyes. "You kidding? After all I said, you still think I don't want to fight him? No way. He pissed off both of us, so we might as well. Besides, don't you want to win that prize or whatever?"

_Honestly, no._ I wanted to say that, but my vocal cords failed me.

Something may be wrong with me, but for me, I just don't get her.

...

After lunch, I decided to send Maria to the forest to train by herself. I told her if she wanted to fight, she needed to get stronger and practise her moves and this was enough to send her flying towards the green forest behind the school. I used to take walks there when I'm especially bored, but now I know some fun will show itself in its dark atmosphere.

Finally, school finished and I managed to find Maria using her Confusion attack to break some fallen trees on the ground. She was clearly tired; sweat was visible on her petit form and she was panting for air. She saw me and floated her way over to me.

"Finally! It took you forever to get here. I've been training myself for hours! Oh, and check this out!" With that, she turned to a log lying on the ground and shot out some sort of shining halos from her mouth. It hit the log, but left no more than a little imprint on the bark.

"What the? Last time I did it, it cut that tree in half!" She outraged at me.

_Psywave..._ Instantly the name of the move popped into my head. It fit; the attack deals a random amount of damage and according to Maria, if it could tear a tree in half, it could definitely tear me in half!

"Well, just don't aim that thing at me. That move's called 'Psywave', according to the games." I said to her slightly scared.

Just then, I heard a set of footprints behind us. I turned around and saw Jess, sporting a serious face, along with a small Pokemon walking next to her. It was a small dog-shaped Pokemon with red eyes and black-and-grey colour scheme. I identified the Pokemon as a Poochyena, and according to its voice, a male.

"So that little puffball is what I'm fighting against? Come on, Jess. I'm gonna swallow that thing whole!" He said in a gruff voice with a joking tone.

That made her mad, no question. "Oh yeah? Well I'm gonna take your tail and shove it..."

I turned to Maria and stopped her from pronouncing her threat. "Woah, calm down, there. And I don't mean to be mean, but that Poochyena has a huge advantage over you. He's a dark-type, meaning both your Confusion and Psywave attacks aren't going to work." I said, a little beaten by the fact that she can't win.

"So what? I can still bite him to death or something, can't I?" and she showed me her rows of small square teeth.

_Really, she has teeth?_ While I was noticing how much better her teeth was than mine was, I heard Jess laughing behind me and I looked at her. "What's so funny?"

Jess covered her mouth to help stop her giggles and when she calmed down, she answered me. "Sorry. It's just that you two are so funny! Honestly, I never did want to fight your Misdreavus. I just wanted to see it up close. I don't want to fight, just like you." She then marched up to Maria and ruffled her pink hair with both hands.

"Gaah! What the hell, lady!" Maria screamed in protest as she was being proceeded to be hugged next.

"I can't help myself! You're just so cute, Misdreavus!" Jess said with a high-pitched voice, which hurt both the Poochyena's and my ears.

"My name's not 'Misdreavus', it's Maria, damn it!" I heard her squeal in between Jess's arms.

Introducing her name just made Jess smile even wider. "Maria? Awww, that's so cute!" and hugged her even tighter.

Immediately I heard the Poochyena shudder and I asked him what was wrong.

"Nothing. I just remembered that she did the same thing to me when I hatched from my egg about a week ago." he said in a trembling voice.

_So not everyone got their eggs the same time I did? Weird, but whatever._

I realized I didn't get the Poochyena's name yet. But before I could ask, he answered it. "The name's Mac. Don't say it out loud; I hate the name! She named it after a dinner she was having at the time or something..." At this, it was my turn to laugh my ass off.

I snapped from my laughter and remembered Maria, who was being tortured by Jess's antics. As much as I wanted to see what would happen next, I wanted to get home quickly as possible.

"Jess, if you really don't want to fight and get involved, those entire things you said at lunch were false?" I asked her.

Instantly she turned her head and let go of Misdreavus, who floated gently to the dirt ground moaning in pain and dizziness. "Well, sorta, but that part of a prize at the end is true, and probably the fact that people will be fighting for it is probably true, too." She said earnestly.

_So there really will be fights in the future..._

I looked at Maria, who was looking rather befuddled from Jess choking her to death. I got one last chuckle in before she regained consciousness and got up in the air again. "Come on, I gotta get home." I said to her with a big smile on my face. With that, she took one last look at Jess and Mac and said our goodbyes and walked away.

"God, what was the point of all that? We didn't even fight and she choked me to death! I hope I never see them again!" She said to me angrily.

"Come now, it wasn't that bad, and you're really strong with that Confusion and Psywave." I pondered for and minute and asked her. "Hey, if you don't like staying in your Pokeball that much, why don't you stay in the forest and work out again like you did today?"

She wondered for a while before answering. "Yeah, I could! I mean, it's not like I gonna get any stronger just staying in that ball every day. Besides, if anyone sees me while in here, I can scare them off and feed myself while I'm at it." She responded while giving me a smile

Seeing as she was so happy at the idea, I decided to have a little laugh of my own. "Yeah, unlike what happened between you and Jess." I said with a little grin.

"Hey! That girl's not right in the head or something's wrong with her! Of all the people that screamed when they saw me yesterday, all the girls screamed the most! Why doesn't she scream her head off like them, too?" Maria lashed out at me with a frown replacing her smile.

"Girls are like that. I just don't understand them." I responded simply.

Maria just scoffed and looked to the road. "Bah. Females..."

"..."

"Uhh, you realized you're one too, right?"

With that, she pulled on my hair the entire trip home.

**A little note. If you know, I know that Misdreavus can't learn Confusion, but I decided to have her know it because I looked at Bulbapedia and saw that they didn't have that many good offensive moves, so I just decided to give her one. Don't hate on me. Remember to read & review!**


	8. A Wild Vulpix Appears?

John's POV

And so, the past few of weeks went through similar procedures that day. Every school day, I would let Maria out into the forest to train while I went to my classes. Whenever I get the chance, though, I would oversee her progress, sometimes during lunch time, and especially during the weekends. Every day, it seems like she's getting stronger and more effective with her moves, and I couldn't help but smile whenever she cast an attack especially well.

Occasionally, Jess and Mac would come by and train with Maria, usually by having Mac use his Bite attack and have Maria try to dodge them; needless to say, after she felt Mac's powerful jaw strength, she knew she had to avoid it as well as possible. Eventually, though, she would tire herself out and I would zap her back into her Pokeball; it was cold outside and resting while exposed to the elements was a bad idea.

By the end of the month, Maria's training really paid off: her Confusion attack was able to break the thick trees instead of just scarring them, and her Psywave's strength improved too. Most surprising of all, however, while Maria was having a practise match with Mac, she performed a move I never saw her use before-as soon as Mac was preparing a Bite for Maria, she turned into a blur and quickly tackled Mac, cutting him short.

"Wh-what the...? You couldn't move that fast before!" Mac yelped, surprised at her sudden speed and recovering from the blow.

"Who cares? All that matters is that finally, I have an attack that can hit you with!" Maria said, smiling widely. Readying up again, she tackled Mac, only for him to bite down on her hair.

"Gaaah! What the hell!" She screamed to no one in particular, while trying to tear herself free from Mac's gleaming teeth.

Seeing her attack fail, Jess quickly exclaimed an answer. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that was Sucker Punch. But, I though Misdreavus couldn't learn such a move, other than through breeding..."

Mac then proceeded to shake her around, scraping her to the ground, but mostly making her dizzy from the constant shaking. When he let go of her, she hovered back into the air looking like she was in a stupor from being tossed and turned like that. Seeing this, I started to approach her and ask what was wrong-until she comically hit her face onto a low-hanging branch, waking her up with the pain of hitting a coniferous tree. I don't know about you, but those thorny branches _hurt!_

Jess and I laughed our hearts content before I could calm down enough to explain to her. "Maria, Sucker Punch only works when the opponent is readying an attack!" and proceeded to laugh my ass off again, making her red in the face and pull on my hair-painful, yes, but worth it.

After the last practice, Maria and I made our way back home again. It was definitely winter season now, with the cold at its worst, but still not enough for snow. So, with great difficulty and awkwardness, Maria managed to stuff herself into my jacket to keep warm. Now, both of us was blushing furiously, tried to inconspicuously make our way home.

"Hey." Maria said, slightly muffled from being crushed by the jacket.

"Yeah, what is it?"

"Do you know when I'll, you know, evolve?" She said with a demanding tone.

"Hmm..." I knew that in games, Misdreavus, with the help of a Dusk Stone, evolved into the witch-like Mismagius. But how in the world am I going to find such a stone? I know I should be rather disappointed at the perspective of having Maria as just a Misdreavus, but found the whole situation rather ridiculous, and laughed a little at the thought.

"What are you laughing at?" I heard Maria ask.

I explained to her that she can't evolve just by training, but that she needs a special stone to do so. When she asked where to get it, I told her it doesn't exist.

Of course, she burst out of my jacket though the zipper and turned to me with a heated look on her face. "What! You mean I'm gonna be stuck looking like a purple puffball for the rest of my life?" She was screaming at me more than asking for a response.

"Well, other than using a Dusk Stone, I honestly don't know how you're going to evolve..." I started, but she cut me off. I expected her to be mad and fuming, but she took the fact a different way.

"Well then, I'll just keep training and tough myself up until I evolve without a stupid stone! But _honestly,_ who came up with the stupid idea that Pokemon can't evolve without a frikkin' stone!" She said, with me nodding in complete agreement. It's true; I thought it was complete BS that some Pokemon need a stone to evolve. Whoever came up with that idea needs to get a taste of Maria's Psywave.

I saw my house and pulled out Maria's Pokeball. "Alright, you know the drill by now."

"Ughh. I know, I know! I just don't like being in that damn ball, you know?" She said to me with an annoyed tone.

I smirked when I said my answer. "Sadly, no I don't know. But I do want to know how it feels. How does it feel to be in that thing?"

"Oh, it's awful! When you get zapped into that thing, all you see is black and you can't see, hear, smell and feel anything, and even worse..." I listened to her rant all the way until I reached the house. Hearing her description, I can see why she hated being in a Pokeball; it sounded like a description of limbo.

"But you realize the reason why I'm keeping you in it is because to hide you from everyone, right?"

"But why do have to keep me in it? Why can't I just stay like this?" She asked with a serious tone.

I didn't like the answer. It was a cold common truth, but I reluctantly said it. "If people find out who and, more importantly, _what_you are, then people might get scared of Pokemon entirely. Even more than the children you scared at the school, now that you can do things that can potentially kill us." As I said this, the picture of the dead man found at the school flashed in my mind. I could only shudder in response. I looked at Maria and saw that she had a rather peculiar look on her face; almost as though she was giving me a "WTF" look.

"But, you know that I wouldn't, at least, purposely hurt others, right?" She said sceptically.

"Yes, but the possibility is still there, and us people aren't the most trusting of animals. Frankly, I don't want to die now, and so do most people"

A long pause proceeded after my lecture. We just stood there (in Maria's case, hovered) at the front door of my house, where my mom was probably wondering where I was. Eventually, the fear in my system faded away and I returned to just shivering from the cold. I may have sounded like a bastard, telling a girl to get in a Pokeball after such a lecture. But I knew that I had to go in or my mom would see me talking with a ghost, and I did not want that.

"You ready to go back to your Pokeball?" I asked gently, after what felt like 5 minutes of staring at the ground.

"Yeah." She said, turning to face the ball as I tapped it on her forehead.

...

A few days past, and we proceeded throughout our schedule like nothing happened. At school, the talk of the 'ghost from the bathroom' turned to the 'monster in the forest'. I laughed to myself, knowing that it was Maria that's scaring anyone in the forest. I could just imagine her scaring someone, screaming a big "BOO!" behind them and using Confusion to make branches swing about, scaring the crap out of them. _Oh man, I gotta see her do something like that!_

One day, I walked to the forest to fetch Maria, but saw from a distance something was wrong: Maria was there, but she was practising much more intensely. I smiled at her desperation to get stronger, but when I walked up closer, I saw that she wasn't firing those Psywaves on trees-she was firing them at something else.

It had a fox-like disposition-seriously, it was shaped like a fox, but it had 6 tails that curled at the end, and had hair on its head in similar pattern. The most unusual thing about it was that it almost looked like it was painted gold, for some reason. At this point, I was running up to her, trying to find out what was going on, and saw that the fox was nothing less than the Fox Pokemon Vulpix. A shiny Vulpix, at that.

And by the looks of things, it looked like the Vulpix and Maria were in a fight to the death.

_Well... crap._

I quickly jogged up to Maria, who was recovering from a recent burn she received from what looked like the move Ember from Vulpix. Noticing me, they both stopped fighting and turned to me, both with an equal amount of anger in their eyes.

"Maria, what's going on? And who's this?" I said, pointing to the Vulpix, making her growl at me in annoyance.

"What's it look like?" She screamed at me, while dodging a quick Ember attack from the Vulpix. "This bitch just came out of nowhere and tried to roast me!" and launched another Psywave at her, which was quickly avoided by the Vulpix.

_Crap, this is getting out of hand. If that Vulpix starts letting loose those fire attacks on the trees..._ I knew I had to act fast or the action would attract attention from the school, which was no further than a block away.

"Maria, stop attacking!" I ordered her. She looked around with a look of complete disbelief.

"What? You want her to burn me to a crisp?" She hollered back to me, now trying to avoid a succession of Quick Attacks from the Vulpix, leaving a trail of gold blurs in the air. Eventually, the Vulpix spat another Ember and it hit her square on her face and Maria slammed into a tree, still floating and recovering from the slight burns on her face.

"Just stop!" I screamed at her one last time. Thankfully, she stopped attacking Maria, and seeing Vulpix calm down, Maria slowly started to make her way over to me, but still keeping a wary eye on Vulpix.

"Fine, but don't blame me if you get turned into charcoal..." I stood my ground and tried to calm down at the situation. I took a step towards Vulpix to ask what wrong-if Maria and Mac could talk, then so could she. But as soon as I took the step forward, she jumped back and launched a ring of fire at me from her mouth.

"Crap!" Both Maria and I screamed out loud. I jumped to the side while Maria floated above it. In a second, we both recovered, and faced the Fox Pokemon again.

"Listen, please calm down! I don't want to fight!" Hearing this, she looked like she calmed down a little, but I could still see yellow fur erect on her body, like a cat scaring prey.

"Please, just tell us why did you start attacking Maria like that? That's all I want to know, and I'll leave." I said earnestly. I sounded confident, but I was really scared stiff. Who wouldn't be-seeing a 6-tailed fox that could roast you alive?

For the first few moments, nothing but silence came out of her mouth. We just stood there, looking at each other eye to eye. She then changed her view to Maria, who was still staying up in the air, probably too scared to come back down. She growled and pointed her paw at the ghost.

"What, did Maria scare you? Come on; please give me a straight answer." I said while wagging my finger to Maria, signalling her to come back down. She slowly floated back next to me, but still kept her red eyes on the golden Vulpix, still suspicious of her.

"...Yeah." I was glad that I was making some progress with her. And her voice wasn't too bad; light but steely, it was the kind of voice I expect from my mom when she was telling me I was in trouble, except not so deep.

"I was just taking a walk through the forest and she launched an attack right at my face." She said bitterly, while giving an accusing look at Maria. I found myself smiling to her story; it sounds just like what Maria would do.

"Really, Maria? You would just attack a complete stranger just like that?" I said to her with a combination of humour and amazement. I heard the Vulpix give a little chuckle of amusement and Maria answered me with a dark blush on her face.

"Well... I was just really pissed that I couldn't control that Psywave, and I guess I just raged and... hit her by accident." She said to me while looking at the ground in shame.

"MITSUNE! Where are you?"

All three of us shook our head trying to find out where that voice came from. It wasn't long before the screamer showed herself. She was wearing a thick brown coat that went all the way down to her jean-covered knees and black-booted feet. She sported a black elegant scarf around her neck and had an equally long hair from her head to down her coat. She was tall, about 5'5'' and had had fair skin and black eyes and one look at her was enough to make me realize she was Japanese.

I looked at her face and saw that she was scared of us. I couldn't blame her-a yellow fox, a purple ghost, and a thickly-dressed man like me, who wouldn't be scared, or at least confused by the sight?

I heard movement beside me and saw that the Vulpix was running up to her. She reached the girl and rubbed her head next to her leg in affection, with the girl bending down and petting the Vulpix's hair.

As much as Maria and I wanted to say "Awwww..." at the sight, I knew some questions had to be answered.

"Excuse me, but is she you're Vulpix?"

The girl turned to me and automatically bowed down in apology. "I'm so sorry! I was walking through the forest and Mitsune just wandered off, and I was just trying to find her! I'm so sorry!" She almost hollered at me with her apologies, making me blush red in the face.

"Don't worry, don't worry about it! I'm just glad you found her again. And by the way, your name, please?" I said gently, not wanting her to scream again.

"Oh, right. I'm Kari. Kari Takase. And this," she grabbed the Vulpix's head and pressed down, making her bow. "is Mitsune, a Vulpix. Are you a trainer too?" She asked eyeing Maria behind me.

"Yeah, but I'm trying to stay out of this game as much as I can." I pulled my sleeve back to show her my PokeNav. "I only let Maria out to train by herself. I didn't mean for this to happen." I said quietly.

"Really? That's good, I don't want to fight, too. But looks like our Pokemon has other plans..." I looked around and saw that both Mitsune and Maria had ashamed looks on their face, looking on the cold black ground. I ignored them and pressed on.

"You come to this school?"

"Yeah, I moved here from Japan a couple years ago, and I'm a first-year here." She said quickly, as though still embarrassed by the situation.

I almost forgot about Maria after a few minutes' conversation and realized she was shivering, with steams of breath coming from her. I said goodbye to Kari and she apologized again for the little incident again.

"Hey, now, don't worry about it. Now let's just go home. It's getting cold here." I turned around and started walking away from her and Mitsune, her eyes boring into my skull. A second didn't pass while a fun thought came to my head; my elementary school teachers used to do this all the time whenever I made trouble with another kid.

"Oh that's right! Maria." I said to her lightly, earning me a gaze from her wide eyes.

"Yeah?"

"I forgot-you didn't properly apologize to her." With that I quickly grabbed her figure with both hands and brought her to Kari and MItsune, who overheard us and started laughing. Hearing them, I couldn't help but crack up myself.

"Oh come on! Do I have to do this?" She hollered at me.

"Yes, of course! I said sorry, Kari and Mitsune said sorry, so you should too!" I said, my smile growing wider by the second. "Come on, just say sorry once and we can go home." I urged her. I saw that both Mitsune had a huge grin on her face and Kari was laughing with tears coming out of her eyes, at my little antic and Maria's protests.

"Come on, just say sorry and we'll go." I said to her, with one last chuckle out of my mouth.

Even without looking at her, I knew Maria was blushing hard enough for her entire body to start steaming against the cold weather. For a moment, we all just stood there, waiting for the words to escape her mouth. Finally, after a few seconds (it probably felt like an hour for her though!), Maria faced Mitsune and said clearly:

"I'm sorry, Mitsune. You too, Kari."

I could only whistle in surprise and clap in applause, Kari following suit with a big grin on her face.

"Now that' wasn't so bad, was it?" I turned to her and saw she was in utter disbelief from what she just did. I started laughing harder, and even with eyes closed, I could tell she was tugging away at my hair. Mitsune and Kari were laughing next to each other at the sight of her tearing at my hair.

_So we got another pair for the game. I wonder just how much more fun this game would get..._

**How was that? Remember to read & review!**


	9. Consultation

John's POV

The next day after school, Kari and I talked a little with Jess in the forest again. I explained the situation and we became fast friends after the initial introductions. We all let our Pokemon out so they can familiarize with each other. This was easily accomplished by having Mac and Maria huddle around Mitsune for warmth, and despite the awkwardness that was ensued, they shrugged it off by talking about their lives so far. We saw this and decided to tell each other a little about ourselves too.

They all had very interesting stories to tell. Kari was just a regular girl, but her family had to move from Kyoto city to find new jobs because her father and mother's business company was going bankrupt. Luckily, they accumulated enough money in their lifetime of work to afford rather comfortable lives, living a few blocks from the school and they found very successful jobs because of their accomplished academics and merits.

Jess was next to describe her past. She was in accident a few years ago, where she was kidnapped and the kidnappers demanded ransom. After recovering from this and the perpetrators were arrested, her parents were passing the blame to each other until they decided to divorce. She has a younger brother, so while Jess lives with her mother here, her brother Nigel lives with the father somewhere in New York City. The story was very touching, and it brought Kari to sniffles and Mac and Mitsune to silent tears.

"Dammit, I'm a man, and I'm crying like a kid?" Mac muttered to himself, trying to wipe his tears with his paws after Jess finished her story.

"Don't worry, Mac. I got over that a long time ago." Jess said soothingly to him. She walked over to him and was petting him, calming him down and warming him up.

"Sorry. It's just that, I swear, if I was there, I would have roughed up those guys real good if they ever even looked at you." Mac said, rubbing his head to Jess's boots, wiping his tears away.

"I'm sure you would have, with those big-ass teeth of yours." Maria said earnestly, smiling her familiar grin. We all laughed aloud at her comment. With the cold winds and snow now showing itself, the laughter helped warm us up a little, even though it was only for a while.

I still had the image of Mac biting the kidnappers' heads off when Jess asked me, "So what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What about your story, I mean. We all told ours, so why don't you tell yours?" She said earnestly. Kari and the Pokemon were all nodding their heads in agreement.

"Do I really have to?" I said innocently. I really didn't want to get in-depth with myself. I was happier listening to their stories, rather. I guess I'm just shy like that.

"Fine." I said defeated after they gave me a long demanding stare. I sat on a nearby rock, trying to think of a good starting point for my story. Of course, in a story, thinking of where to begin is always difficult (that's how I screwed up on most of my essays, after all!), but eventually I managed to start off somewhere.

"I was about 7 years old when I moved into DulcetDrift. Sorry, but I forgot the name of the place I was first from." which got me a few "Aww..." from the crowd, but I ignored them."The reason why we moved was because my parents decided that it was too... _dangerous_ to stay where we were. The elementary school I went was filled with punks and bullies. Of course, you could walk in there and just see a bunch of ordinary children. That's what my parents thought when they checked out the school. Eventually, when I was 6, I was in first grade and everything went downhill from there. Every chance they got, older kids would throw stuff at me or call me names and even hit me at recess for being the new kid." I had a vivid vision of my young self being bullied by children everywhere, pointed and thrown rocks at. I shrugged the thought away quickly and continued.

"Eventually, I got tired of the bullying and told the teachers and my parents about them, you know, what the staff members tell you to do when you see a bully." I cynically smirked at the irony of the event. "This got them really pissed off and they dragged me off to a small park nearby after school. They brought me to their boss, Kyle, a fat-ass of a 9 year old. He told me that he was mad because all the trouble the bullies got from my tattle originated to him-he was the kid that rounded up all these different children and got them together for his little gang. He didn't usually hurt kids; mostly he just stole from them and intimidated them with words, but they made an exception for me. Their clothing and faces didn't show, but their attitude and the way they kicked my ass got me scared shitless." I said bitterly. I realized that I was looking at the ground the whole time during my narration, and looked up at their reactions. Kari had tears in her eyes, but the rest just stared me down even harder, paralyzed as if they couldn't believe my story.

"What, you don't believe me?" No response. "Fine then. After they were done beating the shit out of me, Kyle decided to take it up a notch. Out of his jeans he pulled out a switchblade." This got a few gasps out of them. "Yeah, you could pretty guess what happened there. He took his sweet time carving a little message for me." With that, I pulled my jacket sleeve back and showed them my right arm.

This made Kari and Jess bring their hands to their mouths and the Pokemon wince in shock. I couldn't read what was there anymore because the scars healed over the last few years, but I could still see the marks they made. It looked like strange hieroglyphics were carved on my forearm and all the way up to my shoulder like a tattoo.

""Tattletale". That was what he wrote. Kyle and his gang had a good fun; they took their time discussing what they should write on me. Of course they had limited space and bad vocabulary and spelling skills, so they tried their best to just cut me as slow as possible." I pulled my sleeve back to its original position before finishing off. "And you can just imagine yourself what happened from there." I ended sourly.

I looked at them all and observed their reactions. It was easy to summarize; every one of them had tears running down their faces, even Maria. Just the sight of them wanted to make me cry, but I held it back. I only let one loud sniff and ended it there.

Jess was the first one to break the silence after my story."Is that why everyone's scared of you? Because you got involved in that?" She coughed out of her throat.

I simply shrugged and looked at the ground again. "Basically, yeah. But just like you, I got over it a long time ago." I said with a smile trying to cheer them up; the atmosphere was dense with sadness. "Please don't tell anyone about this. Come on, Maria. Let's go home."

…

I opened the door to my house and the first thing I saw was my mom right in front of me.

"Uhh, what is it, mom?"

She stood her ground and asked me "Why are you so late coming home?" with an innocent tone.

I craned my head and looked at the clock in the living room next to me. "I was talking to some friends. It's only 4:30 p.m., mom. It's really not that-"

"What's this I hear about a ghost in your school?"

It would have been funny if the situation wasn't so dire-I was not expecting this out of her. She was just being a protective parent, but this developed into just plain nosiness during these few months, from looking at my test scores to searching my bag for detention slips. Usually the only kind of information she hears of the school is from me and Jason.

_Of course it was Jason! He just had to go and rat to her about this!_ "It was just a silly prank some guy thought of to scare the crap out of some kids. It's not something serious." I tried to convince her, even adding some genuine laughter in my tone by thinking of Maria being hit by the tree again.

"Well, if this ghost is just a fake, why were you late? You said that you were hanging out with some friends, right?" She pressed on, annoying me further and further.

This I could answer truthfully for once. "I told you before, I was just talking to some girls after school."

_Oh crap why did I say that?_

Luckily (or unluckily), mom's expression changed instantly from villainous curiosity to plain joy. She was about 50-years old, but she could still squeal like a teenager from my school. "Really? It was a girl? More than one? Oh thank God! I was thinking just last week that you would never get a girl!"

"Mom, please. The only reason why I never had a girl as a friend was because they act just like you-too nosy for their own good." Unfortunately, Jason, who heard mom, climbed down the stairs to join in on the interrogation, a big grin on his face.

"Oh ho... so you decided to make some girlfriends, huh?" Jason laughed out.

"Jason, please, you know I don't mean it like that." I said with annoyance. It was enough that mom was picking me on it, but having my brother tease me about this is going to kill me in embarrassment. "They're just some girls I met after school."

"Alright, whatever you say..." Jason finished slyly and went back up to his room.

From this point on, I knew that during dinner the rest of my family would continue to question me about Kari and Jess, but I didn't care about that for now. I was more concentrated on Maria-both of us knew that we couldn't keep hiding her in the attic for an entire year. If any of my family found out I've been keeping her for almost a month, they would not only kill me, but they would probably call the police or, hell, the army if she knew more Pokemon are in DulcetDrift. I went up to my room and closed the door.

Maria's POV

"Gaaah, it's good to get out of that thing!"

It's true; imagine if you were cramped into a ball and kept in it for hours! I looked around and saw John lying on his bed but still awake, looking up as if he was trying to count the number of bumps on the ceiling. "I know that look; what are you thinking?"

He didn't even turn his head when he answered me (how rude!) "I'm trying to think of how I'm supposed to tell you to my family. And let me tell you, it is not easy."

I wondered myself about that for a while, lying myself down next to him on the bed for comfort on the blankets and mattress. "How do you know that they would react how you predict? Come on, I've been living with you a few weeks, and they didn't notice any difference in their lives so far. Why don't I just introduce myself to them?" I was so tired of hiding myself every day.

"If I tell them, then they would tell everyone they know, and it would go on and on until trainers would come and find us and maybe even kill you to get at that so-called 'prize'."

I don't know why, but just his tone alone was pissing me off. Sure I was scared when he said I would be fighting for my life, but I was strong now, I could protect myself!

"So what if they come looking for me? I'll take them on, no problem! You know this better than anyone. You saw how strong I got in just a few weeks! Come on!" He sighed loudly and I could see that he was struggling with the decision. I knew he doesn't want to do it, but he can't deny that what I said was true. I was tired of being hidden, tired of not fighting, and tired of John's insecurity.

"Fine."

"...What?"

John looked at me in the eye, seriousness in his voice. "I said fine. I'll introduce you to my parents, but not today. Let's do it tomorrow; it's a Saturday and no one's leaving the house, making it perfect for you. I also want to ask Jess and Kari for their opinions on this. I asked them if I could during our discussions. You got any objections?"

_Wow, talk about being blunt. When did he come up with this plan?_

"Now I don't know about you but I'm gonna go down and have dinner. If you want, you can visit them right now. Here." With that he left his PokeNav on the table with the screen on. I saw that on it was a map highlighting the addresses of Jess and Kari's houses. "If you want, you can talk to them right now. Please remember to be back by 10 o'clock. I want to wake up early to visit them, and I can't sleep not knowing where you are." And with a smile, he left the room.

...

"So, why are you here, exactly?"

I looked up and saw Jess's eyes boring into me with a small frown. I decided to ask the oldest for help on my little talk with John. I came in through her bedroom window (I couldn't enter through the front door, after all) and after a bit of gesturing and talking through glass, I convinced her to let me in, which was pretty silly seeing as I can just phase through the window and turn invisible. But living with John taught me some manners and I didn't want to scare Jess.

"So you just decided to barge into my room unannounced and have a chat? Alright-let's start with why you're here." She pressed on, urging me to talk. I managed to talk, looking everywhere but her. It was hard-her room was as bland as John's, and twice as small, painted red. A one-man bed was in a corner and a table similar to John's was in another, on it a computer and a stack of books. Other than the messy table, everything else was pretty clean and organized, but still pretty ugly in contrast to its furniture.

"Well..." _God, this is hard._"I just want to know what you think of letting others know about... well, us." I managed to stutter out. She looked at me with a curious look until she broke into a smile. I was not expecting that.

"Oh, it's just that! John asked me the same thing too! Why couldn't he be more like you, straight-up and face-to-face instead of being an awkward wuss and asking me later?" She may have been laughing, but I was caught off-guard. I knew that he was a bit of a coward but he always talked to me straight when we chat.

"He's not that big a coward." I mumbled, but I couldn't help but smile at the little spark of truth. I looked around the room again and noticed something was missing. "Oh yeah, where's Mac?"

Jess's face lit up when I mentioned his name. "Oh him! He's probably just napping in the backyard."

"Wait, so you keep him outside of his Pokeball too?" I was surprised; I thought that from what John told me all caught Pokemon should be kept in Pokeballs.

"Yeah of course. He said it himself that he doesn't like it in there. Besides, if people see him, they just think that he's a normal dog. That's how I managed my mom to let me keep him." She pointed to another window in the room and I looked out to faintly see a small black dog sleeping on the grass. "I gotta keep him on a leash though to keep up his act as pet, but he hates having it on." _So that's how he gets by in public..._

"What about me and Mitsune? We look like genuine monsters, not domestic dogs like Mac." I told her earnestly-I want to get this problem solved quickly. Jess looked at me with a confused look.

"Well, why don't you just introduce yourself to your family? What's wrong with that? Sure they might be scared of you after finding out you've been living with them, but you seem nice enough. I don't see a problem why they should kick you out or anything like that. Just don't let the public eye see you. Even though Mac _can_be seen doesn't mean I don't try to let him. You're like Casper the friendly ghost."

_Okay, I'm not even going to ask._

"Thanks. I needed that."

...

Eventually after a few more minutes of talking I made my way back to John's house. I noticed a few people who were walking down the opposite side of the street saw me, but they ignored me and walked on by.

_Maybe they just thought they were hallucinating or something. But just in case..._ I turned myself invisible for the rest of the journey home (being a ghost-type does have its perks). It was dark, seeing as it was winter season, but I could see my way easily.

**BOOM**

_Damn! What the..._ It was soft, but it was also loud. I stopped mid-flight and looked around, panic starting to rise in my stomach. Another minute of gazing and I saw a flash of light coming from the way I came. _What the hell was that?_Curiosity getting the better of me, I started to fly my way towards the light.

A few minutes and I realized the light didn't come from Jess's house, but the school a block away. _Thank God. I just came from there!_ Another minute and I heard screaming from behind the school, near the forest. 4 figures were near the entrance-3 human-shaped and one that looked like a giant..._snake? _

_Okay, what the hell is going on?_

I approached the figures and saw two of them were human and the other two were Pokemon; a Lucario and an Onix. I knew these guys from the pictures John showed me from his computer, but these guys were scarier than they looked! The Lucario had blue and black fur all around it with a tail, but he had a yellow fur covering its torso, which had a steel spike on the middle. It also had spikes on both his paw. Four thin bulbs seemed to be streaming down from behind his head and it looked like they were glowing (according to John, Lucario could use Aura to predict its enemy's thought using those appendages). He had blood-red eyes that were staring right into the 10-feet tall Onix he was fighting.

The Onix had roughly carved stone spheres that made up its body with his head having a long thin spine coming out of his head. Right now, he was dislodging those stones and throwing them at the Lucario, but he and his trainer, a man about 20-years of age with black hair and blue clothing, dodged all of them perfectly-and a bit artistically if I do say so myself!

Thank God I was invisible at the time, otherwise they would have seen me by now. On closer inspection, I saw that despite Lucario's skilful dodging, he was rather beat;he had scarlet blood staining his yellow chest and his paws. But he wasn't the only one hurt. Onix had large gashes on his head and I saw the spine on his head was dented. At this point I couldn't tell who was winning, but the battle was action-packed and I was silently cheering them on, but I couldn't help but have fear rising in my throat.

_So this is a Pokemon battle? This is the kind of fights I'll be fighting huh..._

All of a sudden, the boy screamed out to his Lucario "Light, run up its body and use Force Palm right on his head!"

With that said, Lucario (or as his trainer called him, Light) starting running and jumping up the Onix's large body.

"Onix! Shake him off you!" Onix's trainer, a man in his 40's, wearing a thick coat and pants were hollering at his Pokemon. _Is that man Onix's trainer? I thought John said only kids have Pokemon for the game! Where did he get the Onix from?_Before I could finish my train of thought, I saw the blue Pokemon deliver numerous punches to Onix with a loud **CLANG!** Each time the rock and his paws struck.

Luckily, after a few more hits, the Onix was knocked out and slumped to the ground behind him, knocking a few trees down in the process. Now Light was approaching the man, with fists on his arms and eyes glowing blue, looking ready to kill him. Needless to say, I was frozen with both awe and fear at the sight.

The man fell down in fear and started to drag himself away from Light.

"P-p-please! D-don't k-k-k-kill me!" the man managed to stutter out.

Honestly, I don't know why he bothered negotiating with a bloodthirsty Lucario and just ran away from there, screaming like that. I felt my pearls heat up around my neck and from its reactive state; the man was absolutely brimming with fear.

"You stole that Onix from his true trainer, made him commit your crimes, and even beat it!"

**THWAK!**

That sound was all I needed to know that Light gave that bastard what he deserved. And even after that, the man was still frozen with fear as he looked up into Light's face.

"Light!" The boy's voice made both me and Light jump at the sound and we turned to him. The boy put his hood on and led Light away. "We are not here to kill this man, no matter what he has done." He walked up to the man on the ground and gazed at him. "That device on your arm. Give it!"

The man quickly pulled up his sleeve, tore his yellow PokeNav off. He threw it on the ground and ran away screaming to a random direction.

_Woah. So that was a battle? I would hate to fight him..._ After a few moments of watching the man scamper out from the school, we turned our attention to the Onix, who was still lying on the ground, unconscious but still pretty healthy.

"What about the Onix Master?" Light asked the boy pleadingly. He walked up to Light with a smile and a chuckle.

"Stop calling me that, Light. My name's not Master, its Alex. Now about the Onix, I'm afraid we have no choice. I certainly can't take care of him and he would be too dangerous if he's left here alone, in a school no less." I saw his smile turning into a frown as he said it.

"Let's just end this quickly please. You and I both know that we can't stay here for long, especially with that racket we made. Your strongest Aura Sphere, Light."

Light started to walk up to Onix with a huge glowing blue ball of light coming from his right paw. He aimed it right on the forehead of the Onix, ready to fire. I was frozen with anxiety when I knew what he was going to do. _No...he couldn't... please no!_

"I'm sorry... "

**BOOM!**

I closed my eyes when I realized what was coming. I just floated, paralyzed in more fear than I ever felt before in my life.

_No way... he really did it... he killed him! How could he?!_

I opened my eyes and looked away from the body, and turned my teary eyes to face Light and Alex. I saw that I wasn't the only one crying; Light had tears running down his face and wiped it away with his arm.

"I know, Light. I'm sorry too. But you know that we had to do this." Light gave one last sniff, his eyes no longer teary but still bloodshot.

"I know, but it's still a shame that he had to die."

"And now for this thing..." The man tightened his grip at the yellow PokeNav. He tossed it to the Lucario, who then crushed it between his paws, releasing a loud crunch of metal. "There, another one down. Let's go home." He turned around and walked to the opening of the woods.

"Alex."

He turned around and faced Light, curiosity in his voice. "Yes, what is it?"

"There is another in this area, another Pokemon that has been watching our fight."

_Wai-what..! He can see me! But I'm invisible right now!_

But it's true, and as if to prove his point, he looked at my direction, but no doubt looking straight into my eyes. "What should we do with her? I cannot tell what Pokemon she is, but her aura is enough to tell me she is a ghost-type. Should I dispose of her?"

Hearing his voice and seeing his fist raised, ready to throw a punch, I flew as fast as I could and hid behind the nearest tree, as if it could protect me from the 100-pound fighting-type.

_Oh God no! Please no! I'm not ready to die now!_

"No." Hearing this, both Alex and I looked at him, surprise in both of us. "We're tired and need recovery. If the Pokemon wanted to fight us, she would have attacked by now, ready to kill. Besides..." He looked at me, but not really able to see me, just looking in my general direction, following Light's gaze.

"It's rude to attack a girl. Come on. Let's just go home."

Light tore his eyes from me and started to walk on his toes following Alex and leaving the forest.

Hearing them leave, I relaxed and landed myself on the cold earth, panting as if I just flew a hundred miles, adrenaline-fuelled blood running through me.

_So that's why John doesn't let me fight! Because he's afraid that I might die, just like that Onix! Oh man, is this the kind of war I'm involved in! Oh man, oh man, oh man..._

I shook my thought of death away, knowing that it would do no good just thinking about it. I looked up in despair and realized it was late, and John was probably worried sick where I was. I started to float back up in the air and made my way back home.

_But I won't tell him this. I trained too far to back out now. This would just make him more scared of fighting and Pokemon in general. At least now, I know what I'm dealing with._


	10. A Family Visit

Maria's POV

"John, I back."

I phased through the window and found him sitting on a chair, doing his homework. When he didn't respond, I decided to perch myself on his head and look it over. All over the desk were textbooks and sheets of graph paper with lines and numbers scribbled (but surprisingly neatly) everywhere. I had no idea what was written there, and just trying to read them made me dizzy.

"Dear God, what it hell is that supposed to be?" I managed to sputter out after being stuck in a trance from the sheer complexity of the papers' mathematical contents.

John chuckled a little at my comment. "Don't bother asking; you won't get this at all. I know I don't." All of a sudden, he put his pencil and ruler down and turned his gaze up, directly into my eyeballs, a curious smile on his face.

"More importantly, where were you? You came back earlier than I expected-it's not even 8 o'clock yet."

"Oh I was just at Jess's place. I asked her what I should do tomorrow. You know, how I should introduce myself." I said earnestly. I wasn't ready to tell him about _that..._

"Did she say anything about me?" At this, I burst out laughing. Then I remembered others were in the house, and I shut up quickly. I remained silent until I heard no movement around to house through the wooden door, and fell into a fit of giggles.

"What, you got the hots for Jess?" I snickered. John blushed a little and a frown made itself on his face.

"No, it's just that I get a strange feeling that more than just friendly girl talk happened over the last few minutes, with that huge smile you had on your face when you came in." He responded irritably. Next second, his frown was slowly turning into a smile. "So what happened? Please tell me in the most explicit, describable way. Come on, I'm sooooo curious." His grin grew even larger until it looked like it would reach to his ears. It would have been scary, with his long black hair and mismatched eyes, but I was too deep in thought to notice.

I started to feel my cheeks burn at the memory of what happened in that house. _Oh God, don't remind me..._

...

_"So, what's between you and John?"_

_At this, I looked up at her and respond with a simple "Huh?"_

_She pressed on, seeing me hesitate and not giving me a chance to recover. "Come on. I know something's going on between you and him. The way you stood up to me at school, you breaking into tears at our little 'storytime', you got feelings for him. I can tell."_

_At this, words froze midway from my throat and I haplessly looked down at the wooden floor._

_"Aww, you like him! That's so cute!" All of a sudden, she started ruffling my hair with one hand and hugging me with the other arm, the cotton from her hoodie rubbing against my face._

_"Dammit, Jess, it's not like that!" I managed to mutter out and wriggle my way out of her limbs. I looked at her, pissed off at hugging me again."God you gotta stop doing that! Besides, I just felt the same way everyone else did. Didn't you cry too?"_

_This managed to stop her for a while, but she turned her eyes back to me with a small smile. "Yeah, but out of all of us, you cried to most. Sure you didn't make any noise, but you were also the one who broke down first."__Grrrh...__It was true, but I hated admitting it. When I heard John's past with those bullies, I couldn't help but look down and have tears falling down my face. I also felt like my insides were tearing and burning themselves at the same time, especially when he showed me his arm._

_"Well no one should deserve that from another, you know?" Was all I managed to say after my silence, growing slightly red in the face, getting teary-eyed. After a few moments, Jess slowly turned her grin into a soft smile._

_"Yes, I know, but we all get bullied and get hurt sometimes. Like you-you got roughed up when you were training with Mac, but you shrugged it off. And me-when my parents separated, I was sad and weeping, but I got over that. We all get over these kinds of stuff with time. Remember what he said? "Don't worry about it too much."."She looked at me with caring eyes and ruffled my hair gently. At this, I was really surprised and looked up at her, amazed at her advice and tone.__Damn. John was right-women__are__strange!_

_"Yeah... thanks. I needed that."_

_..._

_After about a minute of silence to recollect myself, Jess threw a question out of the blue._

_"So, do you like him or not? Come on I want an honest answer!" She said screeching with batting eyelashes, arms to her chest._

_I couldn't believe it! After a tender moment like that, she still wants to know if I like John or not!__Well,__do__ I like him?_

_"Well, sure he's nice and let me train and all, but he's also somewhat bossy and keeps me in my Pokeball if I piss him off, which is__really__unnecessary, but-"_

_"Don't avoid the question." She said with a smug look on her face. "Just say it-you like him or not?"_

_I wanted to answer right in her face, especially after being reconciled by her, but with those puppy-eyes and voice, I just couldn't answer straight! "What about you! Do you...like him?" I hesitated a little when I said 'like', knowing full well what it really meant._

_Now it was her turn to freeze. I smiled a little when I saw the shock in her face, but she recovered and responded back quickly. "Well, sure, I like him. He's nice, and thoughtful, and not at all mean as everyone at school thinks-"_

_I laughed at her response, knowing that she too was avoiding the question. "Come on, Jess! You and I both know what we mean by 'like'!" I was laughing so hard I actually floated into the air and collided with the ceiling, making me lose focus and dropping myself onto her bed's red blankets with a soft muffled__thud!_

_Jess just smiled and looked at me, recovering from my laughter and shaking myself back to consciousness. "You know you deserved that."_

_I shook myself awake and stated out "Well, I guess we both like him, right?"_

_Jess laughed a little at my question. "Yeah, I guess."_

_"And we won't tell him about this little conversation?"_

_"Definitely."_

_I looked at the clock and it read 7:20 p.m.-certainly not late, but it was getting dark and I want to get home with John worrying about me. "I gotta go, John's waiting." I turned around and hovered through the window._

…

"Hey."

"Wake up! Come on don't fall asleep on me now!"

**Snap!**

_Wha...what?_I shook myself awake and looked around. I was still planted on John's head, but I was veering close to falling off.

"Gah!" I realized I wasn't concentrating and to avoid face-planting on his desk, I quickly floated up into the air and gasped for air, recovering from my shock. I managed to calm down, but I could still feel my face burning as though it was on fire.

John just looked at me and laughed quietly, a tiny smile on his face. "Well, I take it you had a rather _exciting _encounter with Jess? Don't tell me! I want to find out myself in time!" emphasizing "exciting", just to piss me off!

_Oh the nerve of him!_

…

John's POV

"Well, this is the place, according to the PokeNav." We both gazed at the house in front of us.

"God damn!" was all that came out of our mouths. The two-story house was huge, and it reminded me of the presidential White House, for some reason, despite it being nowhere close to it. It had a layer of brown bricks on its surface and white window frames covering the building like a war bunker. A black surface of roofing covered the top, and other than its ridiculous size, it looked just like the neighbouring houses next to it.

"Who in the hell decided to make such a house!" I heard Maria gasp out next to me. I ignored her and went to push the doorbell, making a loud **DING-DONG!** Instantly, I could hear a stampede of footsteps in the house and the door opened itself with 3 people on the handle. Thankfully, I had Maria send herself back into her Pokeball when I realized what was coming.

One I could automatically tell was Kari. She was wearing a long-sleeved black and white shirt and a pair of jeans. The rest, I assumed are the parents. The mom looked somewhere in her 40s, with a wrinkled but still fair face with short black hair. She had on a pink t-shirt and white pants to cover her small stature (she was smaller than Kari, given her age). It was the male of the group that surprised me, though. He was tall, definitely over 6 feet, and had a rather menacing face; wrinkled around his cold eyes and thin lips, head balding from age, and if I do say so myself, a rather buff build, especially around his t-shirt covered chest. Looking at a man with such stature, I could only imagine what he would do if I was to hurt any of them.

_Probably kick me 10 yards out the house with a boot stuck in my ass!_

Despite their rather mismatched styles, they both had smiles on their faces and greeted me in their house. I took of my shoes and took a good look around. On the left was a living room, with a large plasma TV and long white couch to boot, a table and a set of chairs around it. On my right was a long corridor with rooms, which I presumed to be the bathrooms and the closets and such.

I would have taken a longer time looking at this rather magnificent house, but Kari quickly and forcefully, dragged me up to her room by the arm and I could only smile at her eager attitude and to calm down her parents, who looked rather scandalized at her daughter's behaviour.

"Don't worry, I'm fine!" was all I managed to speak out to them, before we entered her room and shut the door with a loud _thud!_ Her room wasn't too bad-it was blue with vertical stripes of white and various plushies decorated the room, from animals to Pokemon.

_As expected from a rich girl_. Other than that, it looked like a bigger version of my room. I took off my coat and used it as a cover when I sat on the grey carpet.

"Wow, you _are_quite the Pokemon fan, aren't you?" I said, gazing at the number of Pokemon in the room.

"Yeah, well, it helps when I want to hide Mitsune from my parents." She said, walking towards a humongous pile of dolls. After digging into the heap, Mitsune jumped out of it!

"Whoa!" I gasped out when I saw her pop out, her golden hair ruffled from being covered in fake Pokemon.

"Puah! So, you guys' are finally here? Well, you sure took your time; I've been hiding in that pile for an hour!" She gasped out loud, as if she was suffocating in the mountain of plushies.

All of a sudden, Maria popped out of her Pokeball in my PokeNav with a bright flash and turned a rather angry face at Mitsune. "Well, sorry, but it's not our fault that we arrived _on time!_"

"Maria, please! Don't make a racket. Kari's parents are here, and if they see either of you, who knows what they'll do!" I said, rather panicked and all of us hushed up and turned our heads to the door, as if expecting them to burst out the door. Luckily, we heard no noise behind it and I turned my attention to Kari.

"By the way, what was that about, all that running to the door and dragging me away like that? I wanted to make a good first impression on them." I said sarcastically, acting as though I was hurt.

Her black eyes turned cold when she answered me. "Please, they judge everyone they meet based on their looks, ever since we moved here. It's tiring-every time I bring a guest over, they have to bring them in for a talk, and after they leave, they talk about how awful they are, just on how they look and act!" She said, and I thought I could hear a hint of annoyance in her voice.

I was shocked. Even my parents, with their nosiness, never talked about how awful anyone was. And if they were, we all agreed on it. "So that's why you dragged me away? You don't want your parents badmouthing me? But they look so nice."

She laid her back on the bed and looked at the white ceiling and exhaled. "They do that to everyone. They think if they act all friendly and such, the guests would have no reason to hate them in turn. No offence, but by the way you look, I think you would automatically register as a hoodlum to them."

_Wow. Compared to how she acted when we met, she's the complete opposite now!_

I was not surprised; a lot of people thought I was a punk after that bullying incident. "Don't worry; I get that all the time." I took another gander around the room and realized what I was here for in the first place. "You ever gave any thought about showing Mitsune to them?"

"HELL NO!" They both screamed at me. "I don't want to know what would happen if they found out! They would probably throw her out or ground me for life for keeping a monster in the house! No offense." Kari quickly said to Mitsune next to her.

She just shrugged it off and continued to look at us grimly. "None taken. Besides, I saw their parents and how they punish Kari, and I don't want to bring her any more trouble than necessary."

Kari looked up from her bed and gave a small grin. "Besides, they're already suspicious as to why I brought a _boy_to the house, an older boy at that."

"Ooooooohh…"both Maria and I said simultaneously, realizing what she meant and flushing a little."I just wanted to talk. That's all. Besides, with the amount of money you got here, it wouldn't be too hard to take care of Mitsune. At least for the remainder of the game." I said earnestly.

Kari and Mitsune just scoffed and looked away. "Yeah, well trying saying that to my parents."

…

After that, I left the house (with a rather glad look on the parents' faces. _Looks like what Kari said was true_) and made my way back to my house.

"So how should we show you? Just walk in with you beside me and tell them if they ask?"

Maria turned to me. "Pretty much. I can't think of any other way. I just hope they don't freak out _too_ much." I was sceptical, but laughed at the thought.

"Yeah. I guess that the highest hope we got is the chance that my mom thinks you're cute."

She flared at my comment. "Now don't you start turning into Jess! She thinks everything's cute! How does she do it?"

I laughed even harder at that. I was lucky I saw no one outside (who would? It's 5 degrees out!), otherwise they would have seen me laughing next to a pink-haired ghost!

Eventually I reached the doorstep to my house. I looked down to take off my shoes and noticed a pair of shoes I never saw before. It was black and shaped like dress shoes, but had a rather peculiar pattern of black-and-grey squares on its side.

_What the…we have a guest? I never saw any of my relatives ever wearing shoes like that._ I looked at the pair again and realized what was up.

"Crap. We have a guest! Maria, I need you to get back in your Pokeball. I only want my parents-"

**Creeeeek….**

_What! Shit…!_

I jerked my head up and saw the man before me. He wore a thin black jacket and had equally black short hair flowing to his left. I looked closer and saw he had green eyes and rather worn pair of black jeans. He had a slightly tan skin and appeared about 6 feet tall, making him look even more intimidating. He looked straight, not at me, but at…_Maria?_ I looked to her and asked her if she knew him, but no words came out of me in the state of shock I was in.

"Hello. I think you met us last night, remember? What, no friendly greeting?" The man had a smile on his face and stared directly into Maria's eyes. She just hovered next to me and gasped out loud.

"You! …. It's you!" she could only managed to whisper out in fear.

_What the hell is going on!_

**How was that? It seemed like a little too short, but it's really late right now and I want to get my brains ready for next week's chapter! Please read & review!**


	11. Icebreaker

John's POV

Another few seconds passed and I heard my mom walk into the hallway.

"John, is that you? Come in! I know we have a guest, but don't worry about him."

Before she entered my sight, the man quickly turned around, blocking Maria from her view with his thick torso and grabbing her in place with his hands to his back (which I thought was unnecessary, seeing that Maria was still frozen like a statue just from seeing the man). Just a second before, a small frown was on his face from the lack of response out of us, but his smile reappeared out of nowhere and he looked to my mom.

"Don't worry about it Mrs. Evans, I just saw him trip over his own shoelaces and having quite a laugh out of it!" He said lightly to my mom, who responded with a small scowl of her own.

"John! You're, how old… 16? And you're still tripping over your own feet! Stop making a fool out of yourself and get in! I'm so sorry about this, Mr. Arlon." Mom said with an apologizing tone to the stranger in front of me. At this point, Maria recovered from her stunned state and tried to wriggle free, but the man's big hands kept her still and quiet. Even with all this resistance, however, he managed to keep a straight face.

"Please, call me Alex. And like I said, don't worry about it Mrs. Evans, he'll be with you shortly." He answered back, his smile growing wider and chuckling a little. At this my mom smiled a little and went back into the kitchen.

As soon as we all heard mom walk back in to the kitchen, the stranger let go of Maria and turned to us, who, at this point, had the look of pure confusion on our faces. Apparently, the man noticed this and his smile grew even wider.

"Well there you go. I'm Alex Arlon, and I recommend you have your friend here," he pointed to Maria with his left thumb "back into her Pokeball. Don't worry; I'm not here to hurt you or your family or anything. I'll explain everything to your mother and you and if you want, you can show your Pokemon to all of us. Now hurry up-your mother's making lunch for us." With that, he turned around and walked into the kitchen with a small bounce in his step as he walked.

After the man disappeared behind a wall, Maria was the first one to break the strange silence.

"What the hell was that about?" she whispered aloud to me, making me turn to her. At this point, I had a million questions to ask, but now was not the time.

"I don't know, but I'm going to find out. But he's right. Right now, you need to get back into your ball." I pulled the sphere out of my pocket and she nodded, letting me tap her with the ball's button and absorbing her in. At this point, I completely forgot about the PokeNav for storing the Pokeball.

After that, I put the ball away and walked in, and heard a conversation between my mom and Alex grow larger and larger. _Ugh, grown-up talk._ I wasn't paying too much however, and I looked to my left.

Someone was making lunch-and it wasn't my mom.

"Holy sh-"But I quickly cut myself off as the creature in front of me turned around and its scarlet eyes glared straight into my face, making me flinch a little.

_A Lucario…_

He had all the defining features of one: red eyes, those 4 weird black bulbs sticking out of its head, dog ears, paws for hands and feet, spikes on his arms, and covered in blue fur. The Lucario growled quietly at my presence, and continued to stare at me, carrying a large tray of sandwiches and glasses of milk. Another second and I tore my attention from its face and looked down.

"Wha…" was all that came out of my mouth as I witnessed what the Pokemon was wearing-a blue apron with comical smiling flowers on its front. I looked up to his face and back down to the apron, and repeated the process multiple times, trying to compute what was going on. As I continued to look up and down, I couldn't help but notice the Lucario's eyes were avoiding me.

Finally after connecting the dots for a few awkward seconds, I couldn't help but fall to the floor, doubling over in hysterical laughter on the cold floor.

"HAAHAHAHAAAA! OH MAN, THIS IS TOO GOOD!"

In my comical fall, I managed to hear the Lucario growl louder and bare its teeth at me, but I was screaming too hard to care.

_Oh man, did my mom actually let this monster into her house and hell, even wear that damn apron? Man, you are something, mom!_

Even in my thoughts I was breaking up and tears were falling down my face. I was having a rather nerve-wracking day, all with trying to show my family and wondering how they will react, but this-somehow-managed to make me burst into unstoppable laughter.

Between my laughs, I creaked open my eyes and looked up at the Lucario. He wasn't looking at me with a frustrated look on his face, but looked across him, probably trying to ignore me. But a second later, I heard Alex's voice across the kitchen counter. "Yeah, just do it. His laughing's getting to me."

Next thing I knew I felt a quick kick to my ribs, followed with a stinging pain that instantly made me curl up into a ball, stopping my breath and laughter, only with a small "Crrk!" of pain coming from the corner of my mouth.

After a few moments of silence recovering from the pain, I looked up and saw the Lucario stare back at me again. And I knew what it wanted from me.

"Okay, I'm sorry…but it was totally worth it." I responded with a grin growing on my face again.

…

After the hysterics, I took a seat besides my mom on the rectangle of a table, opposite of Alex and the Lucario Light. Even with the moment of laughter gone, it was still staring straight at me, apron gone, as if he was daring me to laugh. I dare not, though, as those cold eyes finally struck home. I was not getting another kick to my ribs or an Aura Sphere to my face.

After a minute of biting into a cheese-and-ham sandwich Light prepared (how it made these with paws, I have absolutely no idea, and it's probably best not to think about it), Alex turned to me, smiling that familiar smile. "Okay, John, I'm sure you have a ton of questions," _Damn right I do._ "but why don't you let yours out before we do. It would solve a lot of complications."

At this my mom turned to me, making my face immediately burn. "What? What do you mean you have your own?"

I ignored her question and grabbed the Pokeball out of my pocket. I saw my mother react and ask "What in the world is that?" Again, I ignored her and pressed the button, letting out Maria, and a shocked gasp from my mom.

"Okay, John, time to…YOU!" Amusingly enough, both Light and Maria screamed "YOU!" at the same time. I would have cracked a smile, but the situation was too serious-mom screaming at the sight of Maria, the Lucario rising from his chair and banging his paws onto the table. They were shooting death glares at each other. I could only sit in stunned silence.

Alex was the one to break the dead silence. "Light, calm down. Yes she's the one you sensed last night, but now's not the time to fight. We're guests, and we should act like one." He said sternly to Light. He stared back to Light and quietly sat back down, but not breaking eye contact with the ghost-type.

"You know him?" I sputtered out to Maria. She turned to me and suddenly had a rather depressed look on her face.

"Yeah, I saw them when I came back from Jess's place last night." was all she said to me and looked down, as if ashamed.

I turned to Alex and he looked back, frowning, as if he was grimacing at the thought. He took a deep sip from his cup of milk before elaborating.

"At your school, I cornered a man who stole someone else's Pokemon and was using him to commit crimes outside DulcetDrift, abusing him to obedience, making him a slave to him. While on one of his walks, Light saw the man with an Onix and reported back to me, and after a few days of tracking with Light's skills with Aura, we got him. And what Maria over there is leaving out, is that I had to kill the Onix." This drew a gasp out of me, but Alex continued. "Yes, it's a shame, but leaving him alone was too dangerous and taking care of him is impossible without being noticed from bystanders. Right now, everyone is in danger from Pokemon, and I plan to stop anyone from misusing them."

At this point, I didn't know what to say or even think. Killing a wild Onix would cause less problems for the future, but still. Killing something so young and new irked me if not a little.

Suddenly, Light spoke up, his deep voice piercing our conservation like a knife through butter. "I understand you are grieving. I feel the same way, too. I did not want to kill him, but as you are aware, what Master Alex says is true, and I support his decision all the way." I made a small sad smile on my face.

"Yeah, but it's always said when someone dies, whether it's a good guy or a bad guy." I turned to my mom next to me and expected her to fire out a dozen questions, but she looked calm and even smiled when I asked her about her lack of questions.

"Don't worry, he explained the whole situation before you came back from Kari's house." She said with a light tone. "He also told me how you have a Pokemon with you and when he showed me Light I was more than ready to believe it. I always thought you were acting weird over the last week."

I was surprised. Usually she's the kind of person who would freak out on the smallest of details gone awry, and believe no one if it wasn't going her way, but she was handling this easily.

"Sooo, you're okay with Maria? With her staying here?" I said while looking at her. Maria had a worried look, looking at my mom pleadingly.

My mom clapped her hands together and cracked a smile on her face. "Of course! Besides, I could always use an extra hand around the house!" at this I looked at Maria and saw she had strange look. Almost as if she was both happy at the fact she could stay here and sad at the prospect of helping mom on various errands.

Alex seemed to read my mind again and responded. "I'm sorry, but the existence of Pokemon is supposed to be secret. If people knew about them, then all hell would break loose. I would suggest you only show them to your family and others with Pokemon, so you're all in the same situation."

I sighed in relief from this comment. "Don't worry about that. Maria accidentally drifted away from me at school when she hatched and exposed herself to everybody, but the talk's died down." Both Alex and Light looked and me sternly but relaxed in a second.

"It better have. I hope this remains a secret, at least until the end of the game." Alex muttered, relaxing.

Hearing this, I couldn't help but think. _Do you know anything else about this game we're playing, and who, exactly, are you?_ To me, it was like he had a strange aura around him that I couldn't describe, and the way he talked and acted convinced me even more.

Alex chuckled to himself when I asked that question, as if he pitied me for not understanding. "Ask your mother if you have any questions. She can tell you everything you want to know." With that, they got up, picked up a last minute sandwich and marched out the room.

Before they even took a step however, we heard footsteps upstairs, and I instantly knew my dad and Jason was coming down from their rooms. Mom drew a gasp and I turned to her.

"Oh, I'm sorry, before you came in, I told everyone to go upstairs. You see, he's a friend from the hospital I work in, and I sent them up so I can have some private talk." She explained with an embarrassed look. I knew she worked at a hospital in the city, but honestly-_what are the chances of meeting a guy like Alex there?_

"Aw crap, we have more company." I said quietly to Alex.

"Don't worry, now we're all in the same boat." He responded back to me with a smile.

I heard Jason speak out firs. "Okay, what's all this talk about Pokemon and…?" He froze mid-sentence, gaping at the scene in front of him with dad, who did the same-all of us on our feet, Maria with a sandwich dangling from her mouth, a bipedal black-and-blue dog, and a complete stranger with a mouthful of sandwich.

After a minute of shock and horror, out of all the people in the room, Maria was the first to speak up.

"Well, this is turning out to be one hell of an icebreaker, don't ya think?" and cackled a little while she grabbed another sandwich.

…

**How was that? Okay, I know**_**this**_**was rushed, but I was running low on ideas, and an introduction was all I could think of, Sorry! I was also celebrating Guy Fawkes Day for November the fifth, and wasted most of the night in a party. Now with school, and other activities, I don't think I can write one chapter a day now, now with this one out of the way. Hopefully you guys will continue reading on and remember to tell others about my story if you think they would be interested and review whenever you can!**


	12. Pride and Shame

John's POV

"Wow. So Alex is going to help us?" I heard Kari ask next to me.

"Pretty much. As long as you stay out of his way and don't cause too much trouble, you're good." I responded to her back. It was lunchtime, and the girls and I took a table to ourselves so we wouldn't be interrupted. I couldn't stop anyone from listening in (after all, what would 2 _girls_be doing with a guy like me?), but no one ever came even close to the table.

"Thank God we have someone on our side! I just saw the dead Onix today! Everyone else thought it was just a pile of rocks. I thought there was someone out there killing Pokemon. I wouldn't know what to do if such a person wanted to fight me!" Kari whispered out loud in anxiety. Despite their rough image yesterday, she did have a sensitive side.

I smirked at her panicked face."Like you said, Alex is going to help us through this mess. Even Light promised me. But Maria has other plans. She thinks, and it's a fact, that Alex won't be there to help bust us out of _every_ situation, so she wanted to train more. But it's, with the weather now getting super-snowy and all." Jess and Kari nodded their heads in agreement.

"Well, it's good to know that we have someone that will keep trouble off our backs." Jess said after a bite out of her sandwich. "Now, we have time to get ready for the holidays!" and swallowed the rest of it in one gulp.

"Wah…"

_Oh crap! That's right! What's today…December 16? I totally forgot about Christmas! God, how could I forget it! 2 weeks of no school and I was too busy to notice it!_

"Damn, you're right! I completely forgot about it!" I exclaimed out, making a few heads turn in my direction, making me shrink in embarrassment.

Both Jess and Kari giggled. It took a few moments, but they eventually calmed down. "Calm down, jeez. Why are you so serious about this? I thought you were the type of guy who didn't care about holidays and such." Jess said humorously. As much as I wanted to talk back to her, she was right. I didn't care about silly things like Christmas and holidays. I was never a very religious person.

"Well, yeah, but who could forget 2 weeks of no school? Besides, it starts right after this week!" I exclaimed back at her.

"Yeah, how could you?" She said laughingly at me. "But more importantly, what are you gonna do during the holidays? My family is going to a resort for a week of skiing. I'm taking Mac with me of course."

Kari nervous. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What if he evolves right in front of everyone? You could seriously blow your cover and attract so much attention!" I agreed with her; if people found out, they might be able to find us through her.

But Jess simply shrugged it off. "Don't worry about it. I'll keep Mac in his Pokeball most of the day, and I'll only let him out when we're in the rooms."

I looked at her as thought if she was pulling my leg. "Are you sure that's a good idea? If he evolves, I doubt you can pass it off as a simple growth spurt. Mac's gonna look pretty scary as a Mightyena. Why don't you try to evolve him in DulcetDrift before you head out? That way, you can tell everyone Mac's just a really big and scary dog. That way he can stay out in public, as long as he keeps quiet, of course."

Jess, though, took it rather seriously. "You're right! Why couldn't I think of that before! Thanks!"

I decided to change the topic quickly before she could notice my face turning red. "What about Kari? What are you doing during the holidays?"

She sighed and shrugged her shoulders. "I honestly have no idea. On holidays I just stay home. I don't like to travel, and neither does my parents."

"Well, you're not the only one. My family almost always celebrates Christmas, but I never saw any point in it."

Jess gasped slightly at my remark. "But why? It's one of the few days kids our age get to spend time with family."

I couldn't help but smile at Jess's innocence. "Don't worry about that. Now that my family knows about Maria, they'll want to celebrate now, with a new 'family member' as my mom calls her."

Kari laughed at this reveal. "Wow! Your mom actually likes Maria? I thought she would scare the crap out her! I know I was!"

I laughed along with her, glad that the awkwardness was disappearing. "Yeah, I thought so, too. But then she saw Alex and Light, so I wouldn't be surprised."

Jess took a different approach to the situation. "What about your brother and dad? What about them?" She looked at me grimly.

_Oh God, wouldn't you like to know…._

…

_"So, anyways, that's basically the situation we're in right now." Alex finished by resting his head on his hands on the table._

_Easy to say, my dad wasn't too pleased._

_"So what you're telling me is that my son is involved in some sick game of someone's, and there's nothing we can do about it?" he growled out of his mouth. He looked like a very angry judge in a courtroom full of incompetents. He took a seat in front of Alex before resuming his fuming._

_"Do you really think that I'm going to risk my son's life just to keep his…this monster?"_

_"HEY!" but I was surprised I wasn't the only one screaming at him-Both Maria and Light hollered in unison at the word 'monster', her voice clearly differentiating from Light's deep one._

_"Listen, just because I don't have limbs doesn't give you the right to-"_

_"Maria, calm down. I fully expected Mr. Evans to act like this. Ignore him." Alex spoke out suddenly. He spoke in a chilling voice that even made my dad blink in surprise. I never knew he could be this serious-he was smiling and joking just a few minutes ago. Now he looked like he could actually stand his ground against the giant known as Chris Evans. _

_"I know that you're frustrated, with your son and your family in dange-_

_"Damn right I am!"_

_"-but we cannot do anything to solve this now. All we can do is to lay low and keep quiet." Alex continued droning on as if he didn't even hear my dad._

_This got a reaction from him; he raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'we'? Are there more of people like you, looking for these creatures' and their caretakers? What are you doing?" my dad quickly blurted out. He seemed to be asking questions in bursts. It seemed like an ideal approach-ask a bunch of questions quickly before being interrupted and let a long line of satisfying answers come out._

_Alex waited for a moment, to make sure dad stopped talking, and proceeded. "No. I am the only one involved in this investigation, but I do have resources-I work for the government after all."_

_This drew a few gasps from my mom and me._

_"But, I am the only investigating, and no one else knows what I'm doing. This issue has not attracted too much attention, at least not an amount I can't handle. These Pokemon, as I wish you would address them by their proper name, has made their open appearance only a month ago. Not a lot of people know about them, as most of the players played smartly and kept their existence a secret, and have revealed them to a few trusted ones, just like John here." And he pointed to me with his thumb, making dad look in my direction. I looked back at him and saw the anger still glowing in those eyes, but he was a responsible man-he would never lash out against someone that did nothing wrong._

_After a split second, I had to ask Alex. "So you know…others with Pokemon, too? People we don't know about? People who actually want to abuse them?"_

_"Yes. Light helps me with that; he helps me take care of anyone else who decides to use Pokemon for their greedy purposes. I have a PokeNav just like you. I, however, managed to turn mine into sort of a tracker for other Pokemon, to help with my investigations. My job involves finding others with Pokemon and keep them hidden from the general eye until the game is over. Anyone that decides not to….well, Maria knows, although it doesn't necessarily end in bloodshed." and turned to Maria next to him with a small frown._

_"But…you know I wouldn't__purposely__hurt anyone, right?" Maria muttered uncertainly._

_"Yes, but Pokemon are still very powerful, more so than any other animal we've seen. That why people decide to take control of this situation and steal Pokemon from others: to have that power for themselves. And we would stand little to no chance to stop them if they decide to rebel." _

_"You should consider yourself lucky that you weren't stolen just like that Onix, and that you were raised by a decent man like John. That man committed terrible crimes using that Onix he raised. Don't worry about the owner, though. I tracked him down and dealt with him."_

_She hesitated for a moment before asking, "You didn't…kill him, did you?"_

_Alex smiled at her fear. "No. My job is to protect the people from Pokemon, not people. That belongs to the police. But I did place him under secrecy, and I've got a record of him, to keep him from gossiping what happened. He was the 5th case I had." and he chuckled a bit, probably to lighten the mood from its heavy atmosphere."But it's not always that serious. Right now, talking with you and making you understand the situation is my job in a nutshell. All I have to do now is to get Mr. and Mrs. Evans' promise that they will keep this quiet."_

_"Oh really? You think I'm going to keep quiet about this?" my dad flared and stood up from his chair and walked up next to him, careful to avoid even touching Light in his way. Immediately, Alex's frown was on his face again._

_"Yes, I do think you will." Alex rose from his chair as well, making my dad flinch. All of a sudden, Alex turned his head to me, a smile forming on his face."John, you've been taking care of Maria for over a month, now. If a 16-year old could take care of a 'monster', as you called her, why can't the rest of the family do the same? I only ask that you keep Maria hidden from others as long as you can. I'll take the rest from there. If you have a better idea, I would be glad to hear it." He just smiled at the sight of my dad stuttering for words to express his fury._

_"But, John! Do you really believe you could take care of….__her__," my dad reluctantly said, deciding to show some respect. "without anyone noticing?"_

_I smiled weakly despite his dangerous tone. "Well, I took her in for the entire time without any serious trouble, especially from__you,__so why not?"_

_Alex decided to interrupt me at that time, gravity thick in his voice. "But John, remember that even if the year is over, these Pokemon may still become a big problem in the future. Who knows what the man responsible for this is cooking up."_

…_._

_"Yeah, but now I'm just glad that I get to stay here!"_

_I flinch at the sudden shout, and I jerked my head to the source: Maria. She hovered her way towards me and perched herself on my head,__again.__She smirked pompously, and I couldn't help but smiled with her._

_Alex took the time to speak up. "Well, before we can do that, I want to know: anyone here has problems with Maria living here?"_

_I looked around at my dad and Jason. Dad looked like he gave up on the matter entirely, and sighed. "Fine. She can stay here, but she's__your__responsibility. She gets lost, you're responsible for her actions and you will be blamed if she makes any trouble."_

_Maria did not like that one bit. "Hey! I can take care of myself, alright! I'm just staying here because I'm his Pokemon!"_

_"-which pretty much means you're my responsibility. Don't pretend you don't like it." I said impishly to her, grinning even wider, seeing her frown in response._

_Light chuckled a little at this comment. It was weird-I never heard him laugh before, but I liked it, and it calmed me down even more._

_"And Jason? Do you have any objections?"_

_Jason scowled a little in annoyance when Alex said it, but his voice told me he didn't care too much. "Nah. As long as she doesn't decide to scare the crap out of me when I'm doing my work, I'm good The last thing I need is a distraction getting in the way of me graduating."_

_"Well, I guess that takes care of that!" and Maria took my cup of milk and took a big swig. I looked around and saw my dad and Jason wide-eyed. I realized after a few seconds that she used Confusion to grab the mug, making it float to her mouth._

_I smiled at their surprise, and Alex laughed along with me. "Yeah, you better get used to seeing that often!"_

….

"Well…they just seemed pretty happy about it. They don't have any problems, so I think I'm alright." I muttered after my little recollection, and smiled at the ending.

"Wow, I hope Alex comes to visit me sometimes. He would be able to put my parents on the edge and Mitsune wouldn't have to be kept secret anymore." Kari said after I finished.

"You might get the chance. I told Alex about you and Jess, so he might visit you when he gets the chance."

Jess squealed quietly when I said that. "Oooh, I hope he does! From how you described him, he seems like a real looker!"

I chuckled sarcastically at her spirit. "Well he said he was just 22 years old, but I doubt he would notice you. I bet he's too busy with his work anyways."

...

A couple more days passed and finally, the weekends were here. I know I should be excited, that now I had 2 weeks of doing whatever I wanted. But I had no idea what to feel like. I've been alone for so long that I had no clue what to do over the break with Maria. We didn't have any plans, no family coming over, and with nothing to do, I just did my homework over the first few days with little interruption.

Maria, however, had more things on mind. Now that she was known to everyone, she kept badgering them with questions, especially ones regarding _me_. Everyone was happy to provide explicit answers in return, but with questions of their own.

"So, you hatched from an egg, huh? When were you born, exactly?" my mom would start during dinner.

"November 15th, I think. And of all the places I could've hatched from my egg at, it had to be in one of the school's bathrooms!" Maria exclaimed humorously, making my mom break out in hysterics, but quickly calming herself to ask _me_ what happened after that.

"Oh God, don't remind me." was all I said back to her and I could see Maria look at me smiling. She then proceeded to cut her piece of meatloaf with a knife and fork. My mom was generous enough (when is she _never?_) to teach Maria table manners the dinner before, so that she could "fit in" with the family more. It was awkward- there was something about a knife and fork just hovering in the air and cutting meat all by itself.

"Geez, I don't care what you say, I am never gonna get used to that." Jason muttered, smiling, after seeing Maria finish her plate of meatloaf and steamed veggies (which, incidentally, tasted much better than usual. Probably because mom thought it was Maria's first proper dinner, and put in extra effort to make it). Using Confusion, she carried her plate to the sink and cleared up the table when we were done.

"You see that, Chris? Maria was nice enough to clean the table for all of us! Maybe I should switch Maria with you, instead! She would be a lot more help in the kitchen than you would be." My mom remarked. Usually my mom isn't this talkative, especially after eating a filling meal-usually, she would be too stuffed to chat. But tonight was different, probably because of that one glass of wine mom and dad decided to have (with a bit of effort on my part to keep Maria away from the drink, curious to taste what it was).

"Alright, alright, fine! I'll clean the dishes if you think that, Helen!" my dad whipped back to my giggling mom, but had a smile on his face as well-the wine affected more than my mom. Hopefully, after this night, he would be a bit more positive with Maria around. Jason dismissed himself and walk upstairs to his room. I looked at the clock and realized it was only 9:00, but I guessed that since it was winter and all, we all felt a little cranky from the premature nightfall.

While mom walked upstairs to sleep as well, I walked into the living room to relax on the comfy surface of the couch, instead. It was much nicer than my bed; you could barely feel the springs in it. I literally sank into its cushiony bags as I relaxed into it with a loud sigh.

"Hey, John?"

I opened my eyes and saw Maria landing on my now-bloated stomach. But she wasn't looking at me. Rather, the black piano in the corner of the room.

Oh how I remember the days with that piano. It was Jason that started it, but after seeing him play some songs on it, I was instantly hooked. I taught myself piano ever since. I started off slow, but eventually my fingers got used to it and I started to play some songs I got off the internet for myself. Because no one else knew about this, I decided to keep it a secret as long as I could, but because of this, I never found a good long period to practice. Now, after all that happened, I never even touched a single key on it, and I could see dust piling on the keyboard cover.

"What's that big thing?"

I smiled when she referred it as 'that thing', but kept the innuendo out of my mind, as the piano was quite precious to me.

"A piano, a musical instrument." I responded simply. I was too tired from eating at the time to elaborate any further. Maria turned to me at my answer.

"Do you play it?"

I frowned slightly at that question. "Sorta. Now, with you around to take care of, I never did get the chance to play it. I usually play to get rid of some unwanted stress."

She looked down at my answer, and looked guiltily at herself. "Sorry, do you like to play it?"

I smiled at her sudden modesty. "Yep, but I'm not too good at it, though." I grunted out. She took off and floated next to the piano, landing on its equally black seat, and lifted the cover to reveal the 88 keys. After gazing at them for a couple of seconds, I heard her press a C, then a D, and so forth until reaching the next C.

"So, you wanna try playing it?" I asked after seeing her presentation, and got up to sit next to her on the chair.

Maria turned to me with a small frown. "You don't mind? Or Jason, or Helen, or Chris?" Ever since she showed herself, my mom insisted she call everyone by their first names. Now that everyone was upstairs getting ready for bed, we were all alone (my dad went upstairs a few minutes ago).

"Wait, just a sec." I reached with my foot the soft pedal and set it, muffling the sound considerably. I didn't want anyone to get annoyed by the piano. "There. Now try."

Maria took a moment before replying. "I don't know any songs"

I chuckled at the answer, making her frown even further. "Well, I guess that's true. Ever since you came here, we were so busy with trying to keep you hidden and all, we never had time to have any fun."

"Here, let me try playing-I could use the warm-up." She floated off the chair next to me to make space and I found a music book on top of the piano. I opened it up the song I wanted, Ballade pour Adeline, and brought my hands to the cold keyboard.

I may not have looked it, but I was nervous and probably shaking a bit. I felt Maria stare at me, anticipating the first notes, and I couldn't help but break a sweat. I never had an audience before, and even Maria's attention was enough to make me feel cold all over. But despite my shivering, I shook it off and started to play.

It was…odd_._ There was nothing different about it; it was my favourite song, and I played it whenever I got the chance, but it felt like something was different. I was one of those people who love playing music just for the heck of it. Sure I felt happy that I got to play again, and hear the beautiful notes, but there was something else. Another source where I got this feeling of weird, almost elation from.

_Is it embarrasement? From playing in front of Maria?_

After a few bars in, my fingers started to regain its sense of touch and I slowly began to play naturally. I smiled at this sensation of playing again, and continued to smile wider as I went along. About I realized I was nearing the end, I decided to entertain Maria by making it as romantic as possible, and held the final chords until the sound faded. I frowned at the song's end, but I felt satisfied that I could play this again. It was a gentle song, and while I enjoyed the rhythmic swinging style of Jazz and the occasional Rock, it was nights like these that made a piece like this really shine, even with all of my screw-ups.

Hey, playing without practice in a month can do that to you.

After the sound faded away, I took my fingers off and looked at Maria, starring at my fingers, with a blank look on her face.

_Looks like she wasn't too impressed. Oh well, not like I was trying to._

I got up from the seat and closed the book shut. "Now, I know, I made mistakes, many, in fact, and it sounded crappy-"

"No."

I turned to Maria, and her eyes were staring directly into mine. "What?" I breathed out of my mouth. I was done playing and early drowsiness started to take effect.

She hesitated for a second, and looked to the music book, trying to look anywhere but me. "I said no. That did not sound crappy. Sure, there were mistakes, but you didn't do _too_ badly."

I smirked at her comment, closing the piano with a soft **THUMP.** "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were complimenting me. That's a first." Again, suddenly I felt that sensation in my stomach again.

_God, what is this? It can't be embarrassment…_

"Well, you did play good, and the song was beautiful. If I had hands like you, I would be clapping." She smiled at her joke.

"Pssh. You should hear Jason play. He plays way better." I brushed off her comment and walked away from the piano.

"No. I just want to hear you play that. I want you to play that again sometimes. I want to hear that piece again when you have time." Her voice was surprisingly timid, and for a moment it scared me.

I froze when I finally realized what this feeling was: _pride._It was weird; unfamiliar. I always went by unnoticed by Jason, who always did everything better._Always_. Better grades, better music, better social skills, better _everything_. It's been a long time since I realized-there was no point in impressing when someone's already done it.

But now, there was Maria, and she liked what I did. That never happened to me before. I can't remember the last time I heard those kind of words addressed to me. I was rejected and alone for so long I never got to try my hardest anymore.

"Thanks." was all I spoke, and went to turn the living room lights off, getting ready to go to bed. Being recognized like this sent a chill down my spine, and I was afraid of letting something slip if I kept talking.

"For what?" Maria was still fixated on me, even with my little performance over.

"For the compliment. I can't remember the first time I got one from anyone, even my parents or Jason. I even thought of myself as just a failure, and I guess I just…gave up on everything." I turned around to face her, but as soon as I did, I felt something bump into my chest-Maria.

It was strange. I never saw her like this. Usually in a situation like this, she would say something like, "Ah, well don't worry about that! Screw them and their opinions, just do what you wanna do!" with a goofy smile, but this was completely unexpected. After a few seconds like this, I started to feel my shirt start to stick to my skin. She was shaking like a leaf on my chest, and I recognized the symptoms quickly-_she was crying_. It was silent, no sniffles. _Maybe playing such a song softened her up a bit?_

I was stunned. I didn't know how to respond to this, but I did my best. I brought my arms up and pulled her into a hug, feeling her soft pink hair with my hands and her body pressing against mine. "There, there. It's not good to keep these kinds of things in, alright?" I said gently to her, and rubbed her hair with my hand, trying to calm her down. It took a while, but she eventually stopped shaking and remained still. I could feel her shuddering breaths through the fabrics of my shirt, though.

_Is she feeling sorry for me?_

"Come on, let it out. But to be honest, I should be the one crying their eyes out, not you." And I continued to brush my hands through her hair, and I heard a giggle under my arms. I started to feel tears welling up in my eyes and my cheeks burn, but I blinked these away-I didn't want to break down here, where I had another one crying her eyes out.

A few more minutes and I released my grip from her. She floated eye-level to me and I saw she no longer had tears, but her eyes were rather red, and she looked tired. I saw this and smiled.

"Come on, we gotta get to bed, and mom wants to go shopping for Christmas gifts tomorrow." I smiled even wider at the prospect of presents, but felt air pass over my chest and I found myself shuddering-the front of my shirt was soaked.

"Oh, you're cold, I'm sorry! I was just…I just…" Maria started panicking, but I stopped her before her apologies grew too audible

"Hey, I told ya, don't worry about it. I got more shirts in my room." With that, I took off my shirt and tossed it in the laundry basket on the way to my room. I felt the air skim past my skin, and I started to get goose bumps, so I quickly walked up the stairs to my room with Maria hovering behind.

I picked up a new shirt from my closet and put it on, but after I did, Maria was looking at my left arm, as though she was hypnotized by something.

I slowly dawned to me what she was doing:

"Ahh, you checking me up, huh? I must admit, these biceps don't flex themselves. Yes, I am quite fit, aren't I?"

I laughed while she furiously turned away and went up to the attic with a quick "Good night!" I chuckled some more and turned off the lights. I landed myself on the soft mattress and dragged the thick wool sheets over me, sighing with content as warmth instantly returned to my fingers and toes.

But throughout the night, I couldn't help but think back to what Maria was looking at.

_Thank God I covered that up when I did. Who knows what she would say if she saw that._

….

**Whew! I'm so glad this is over! It took me like, what, 2 weeks for this new chapter? I'm sorry for the wait, but now it's 1:00 a.m. and I gotta get to bed myself! Hooked on my story, yet? Keep reading and keep reviewing to tell me what I could do to make the story better. Remember, every review helps me write better and encourages me to continue writing! Looking forward to your thoughts and comments!**

**By the way, for those who don't know what "Ballade pour Adeline" is, go search it up on Youtube and find the video with Richard Clayderman. It sounds really beautiful and I decided to add it into the chapter! After you watch it, I hope you understand why I decided to use it!**


	13. Christmas Shopping!

Maria's POV

"So… where exactly are we going?" I muttered after being in the car for what felt like an hour.

"Markville Department store. One of the biggest shopping malls in DulcetDrift. Now that the holiday season's here, mom's gonna take us everywhere to buy all sorts of crap we don't need." John groaned exasperatedly, continuing to look out the car window, his eyes laced with boredom. It was early, just about 10:00 a.m., but it was bright, and John was cranky (a rather amusing combo, as when he got up to use the bathroom when he woke up, he tripped over himself). We were in Helen's car, sans Jason and Chris. I decided to come with him, partly because I never got to see outside recently due to the cold weather, but I also wanted to see more of what this… 'Christmas' was all about. John obviously doesn't like to celebrate it, and Helen was more focused on the bargains and deals that came with the season, so I wasn't going to get good answers from them. So I decided to find out myself.

Of course there were problems to my decision.

…...

_"Are you crazy?" John whispered frantically to my face when I told him my idea. "If anyone sees you, then people would freak out and everything would be ruined! Don't you remember what Alex said? "Keep Pokemon a secret as long as you can"? "After we ate breakfast I brought him upstairs to his room to tell him._

_"Relax, alright? I have a plan-all I have to do is just not be seen by anyone." I explained as if it was the easiest thing in the world._

_He just gasped at my daring suggestion. "Well that's easier said than done! Obviously you're not gonna be in your Pokeball the whole time, so you got any ideas?" He continued to whisper pointlessly, seeing as we were the only ones in his room._

_Uhh…what could I do…?_

_"Hah!" I took a brief but loud gasp at the solution after a few minutes of brainstorming._

_"What's that? You got something?" John asked aloud this time, his eyes glued to me._

_"Oh! Oh, umm…nothing! Nothing at all!" I spoke out too quickly, making him continue to fixate his gaze on me with a straight face, making me flush in response._

_"…You know a way."_

_"Oh no! Not at all! No!" I insisted, but he continued to stare at me, a smile now slowly growing on his face, while a scowl was forming on mine._

_"Ohhh… Let me guess: I get it-it's a good idea, and it works, but you don't like it. Am I right?" He giggled a little while doubling over on his bed._

_I couldn't take it anymore at that point. I frowned at the sight of him laughing at me. "Yes, I have an idea, but I'm not telling nor will I participate in it!"_

_Suddenly, he stopped laughing and looked up to me. His smile was gone and was and was replaced with a look of annoyance. I flinched at the sight of it. "Look, do you want to come and see the mall or what? Just make up your mind and stick with it!"_

_I was taken aback, easy to say. Maybe it was the energy from the eggs and waffles we ate, the crankiness of having to wake up on a weekend, or having to spend half the day with his mom, but he never lashed out at me like he did now._

_I __look down and remain silent for whatever reprimands he had. I was too stunned to make a move anyways._

_I heard a deep sigh coming from him and I looked at him. He had a tired look on his face with a little bit of guilt from snarling at me like that, but he spoke with a patient voice._

_"Here, how about this. The way I see it, there are three choices. One, you tell me this idea, and we go with it. Two, you stay here and stay bored for rest of the day…"_

_I waited for him to finish the sentence and I noticed his frown turning into a smile. "What! What's the third!"_

_I saw his smirk as he told me the option. "Third, I could just put you in the Pokeball for the whole trip. I'm especially looking forward to that option; I could get some peace and quiet for once!"_

_That did it for me._

_"Alright alright! I'll tell you, and you'll probably like it, but I sure as hell won't."_

…

"Well, we're here. Might want to phase through the door if you want to come."

I heard John step outside the car and shut the door with a loud **THUD!** and I phased through the car and turned around to see a huge wide orange building. It was just the height of John's house, but it was _wide._ It literally spread from one end of the block to the other, covered with windows, and around the entrance was a huge flock of people. Above the double doors was a banner reading 'Markville' and surrounding us were dozens, if not _hundreds_ of cars just like Helen's. Some were blue, some were black, and some were yellow, green, and even striped!

"Wow, you're right, a lot of people are shopping!" I finally gasped aloud after awaking myself from the hypnotizing colours of the vehicles.

"Well, it is the holidays, and even adults are free from their jobs to spend time however they want. Come on." and he grabbed me and pulled me to his chest. I instantly grew hot, but I knew it had to be done if I wanted my plan to work.

"Believe me, I'm just as nervous as much as you are." I heard John mutter above me and gripped me tighter, as if trying to block me out of view.

_Oh, I have a bad feeling about this…_

…

John's POV

"What in the world is that…?"

"Is that a Pokemon…?

"A stuffed animal?"

"Mommy, I want a Pokemon doll just like that for Christmas!"

_Oh, this is so embarrassing!_ _What in the world made me go through this? How did mom agree to this?_

As I walked through the entrance I tried to ignore it, but the gaze of dozens of people looking at me made my entire body burn up as if I had a fever. The store wasn't stuffed like I imagined it to be, but there were enough people to make me _very_ self-conscious about carrying, what they thought was, a stuffed Pokemon

_Don't worry. As long as I keep still and you hold me tight I won't be seen as a__ live __Pokemon._

_Easier said than done._

Regardless of the stares I tried to distract myself with the Christmas decorations all the stores set up for the holiday season. It seemed that every employee was dressed in red or green to celebrate and streamers and plastic icicles hung from the lamps lighting the whole spectacle. I groaned at the overuse of colour and clichés and made my way deeper into the store, telling my mom I wanted to go look around while I was here.

"Alright, but don't get lost and get into trouble!" was the last thing I heard from her before I lost sight of her from the numerous clumps of the people here.

I continued to march past the various stores and ignored the various stares and reactions I got from the employees and customers from them. Some were pointing at me, the 'doll', and a couple of girls sitting on a couch at a furniture store even giggled at the sight.

"Hey, is that doll yours?" one of them laughed out the instant they saw me.

I tried to shrug off the suddenness of the question and tried to keep a straight face. "It's a Christmas gift for my sister at home." Now that was a flat-out lie, but I else could I do?

"Oooh, can I see it?" the other said squealing a little as she did, as if she would just explode from touching Maria's soft hair and skin.

I turned Maria around to face me for a second, and I saw her shake a little in reluctance and her face practically screamed "Oh God no! Oh please NO!"

"Sure. Be careful with it though." I saw Maria glance one last look a loathing and I found myself giggling at the sight of the two girls simply gawking and petting her.

While they were rubbing her head, however, I saw her eyes glow purple for a moment, and I realized this was one of her moves. I stepped back in alarm to avoid getting hit by whatever she had planned.

Both of the girls were showered in the purple light and their eyes remained frozen staring right back at Maria's eyes. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and the girl let go of Maria, while she floated back into my arms, leaving the girls with stupid looks on their faces, as if they were hypnotized. Both the girls stood up and stumbled a little while they stood up from the couch and tried to exit the store, but they ended up tripping themselves over table legs and chairs, creating a mess of the place while doing so.

I saw where this would lead, and I quickly exited the store, trying to leave the scene before it attracts any more attention than from the employees, who turned their heads at the racket.

"Mind telling me what that was for?" I whispered to Maria, who stared back at me with a defiant look.

"I could ask you the same!" Her muffled voice spoke, and adjusted herself to speak better. "They were really ticking me off with their girly antics that I just…what _did_I do?"

I looked back at the girls still in the store, trying to coordinate their feet together, but ended up knocking a table down right on top of them. I winced for a moment before replying. "I thing that was Confuse Ray, which would explain why those girls are acting so weird. Thank God I didn't look at it, otherwise who knows what would have happened."

After a few more minutes of blindly marching pasts that halls and absorbing the sights, Maria snuggled herself deeper into my coat before asking, "From what Helen told me, Christmas is supposed to be a holiday where people spend time with their families and give gifts to another. Why?"

Honestly, I did not know the answer to that. "I dunno. All I know is that it celebrates the day a Hebrew named Jesus, and somehow it turned into a day where an old bearded man named Santa Clause sneaks into houses through the chimney and leave gifts." That was the bluntest answer I could give her.

Maria giggled a little and shook in my arms, even though she tried to keep still to not attract attention. All of a sudden, she turned her head and let out a small cheer. "Ooh, ooh! Let's go there!" and pulled me towards the last place I expected her to want to go: a music store.

The first thing I noticed was that it had absolutely no decorations whatsoever, not even a tiny plastic Christmas tree at the entrance. The carpet was maroon with brown stripes that collided terribly with the blue, but I was too distracted with the rows and rows of instruments to care. Saxophones, trombones, trumpets, tubas and many shiny brass were hung on the wall. Another wall facing the first had the woodwinds: clarinets, oboes, flutes, and even more saxophones, shining in their glory. In one of the corners were drum sets; red, blue, black, and even green. In another corner were stacks and rows of music book, containing theme songs from cartoons to classics from Beethoven and Bach.

I smiled at the variety and I walked in a bit further and saw a sight that made me crack a smile: _pianos._ Some were the classic black grand pianos, their covers held by stands, showing their interior of steel strings and hammers. I turned my head to the other side of the room and saw the upright piano section, like the one in my house. One was orange with stripes of wood you would see in most wooden products, and the one next to it was painted black.

I dragged my feet across and brought my chilly fingers to the surface of the black piano, and I could only smile at feeling the smooth waxed wood of the instrument. I remembered the old one back home and I chuckled a bit.

"What? What is it?" Maria freed herself from my grasp and landed on the piano cover. I quickly did a 360 to make sure no one was around. Luckily no one was, and the only one here beside us was the cashier, a young man about 17 who was in the other room, and he was too far away to hear us.

"I never thought that I would want a present, that's all." I spoke admittedly. "Every Christmas, I never expected to get gifts what I wanted, even when my parents would ask what I wanted. Every year, it would either be clothes, or books, or most commonly both. This is probably the first time I actually ever wanted something."

Maria smirked at my child-like desire and laughed quietly. "Don't laugh, I'm being serious." I said bluntly. She calmed down after a few more giggles and buried herself in my coat.

"Well then, I don't you try playing it? Your parents are not gonna buy it, obviously, so why don't you? I want to hear that song again." She said to me, smiling as she gently opened the cover.

I abruptly but silently objected. "No. We are in public, and I don't want to attract attention with a floating Pokemon by my side. Besides, I didn't memorize that song yet." Despite this, I couldn't help but fall to the temptation of playing a few notes on the keyboard, its soft but loud sound reverberating in the small room.

"Excuse me, do you work here, I was just-"

I let go of pressing the keys instantaneously and jerked my head to my left. I expected the voice belonged to the owner, obviously surprised that I had a floating ghost Pokemon by my side, and I froze on spot. I expected a scream of shock, but instead heard a gasp when I saw the speaker.

It was Kari. And she brought Mitsune with her in her arms.

….

Maria's POV

_Oh who does she think she is, interrupting such a tender moment like that! I was just about to hear John play again! Grrrh!_

I couldn't help but think that as I saw both of them chatting away idly while I continued to remain quiet. As if to console me, Mitsune kept quiet in Kari's arms as well, to keep up her masquerade as one of her widely known dolls, smiling as if she was trying to calm me down. Sadly, it wasn't working too well, as her practically golden fur attracted much more attention that before, making me more paranoid by the minute from the constant stares.

"Doing some Christmas shopping I see?" John muttered above me.

"Yeah. I could say the same to you. My parents dropped me off when I told them I wanted to browse for what kind of gift I wanted. But really, I just wanted to get out of the house; they're decorating." was the response from Kari, petting Mitsune on her golden tails. "We must look quite the pair. With your dark coat, my yellow one, Maria and Mitsune in our arms, we must look like one hell of a deranged couple!" and giggled quietly.

"Yeah, I guess we do, no?" John replied simply with a sheepish grin.

I couldn't help but snarl to that comment. I stared at John in disbelief, but he didn't look back.All of a sudden a memory came digging its way out of my brain and replayed it. I was in John's bed…

_NO!_ _Don't you dare think about that!_

"What's wrong?" I heard John's worried voice pierce through my train of thought and I realized I was actually shaking in my struggles.

"Oh! Oh, umm…listen; can I just go get some air? I just feel so stuffed after being pressed in your coat for so long. Don't worry, I'll remain invisible and I'll be sure to come meet with you when we meet Helen by the exit." I tried my best to keep my voice as casual as possible.

John didn't seem to care much. "Feel free, but just make sure no one sees you." With that, I turned myself transparent in the blink of an eye and floated to the ceiling of the mall to see the view. I looked at John and Kari and it looked like they were chatting away like nothing ever happened.

"Dammit, John! Why can't you be that social when I'm around! GRR!" and I dashed off in a random direction for who-knows-how-long, closing my eyes shut to keep whatever tears in.

_Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why do I keep feeling like this? No just stop! Just stop breathing so hard! You're not suffocating!_

"Okay, I gotta stop gasping! Calm down!" I opened my eyes and I found myself in a hallway, but this one was dark and poorly lit, with no one in it, thankfully. I noticed my entire body was practically burning up and tried to relax to cool off, turning myself visible again in the process.

"Relax, just relax! He's not going to forget me…"

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I do know you won't forget _me_."

The voice scared me so much I lost focus and dropped to the ground, turning to the man who spoke up. He had a brown jacket, grey pants, and sunglasses, for whatever the reason. But the combination of his voice and weird appearance made me shiver.

"Who're you!" I instantly blurted out in fear, before I hovered back up and headed into the darker part of the hall, trying to hide myself in fear (I could have turned invisible again, or phased through, but hey, I was too scared out of my wits to think straight).

The man didn't answer back, and drew his jacket sleeve back, revealing a red PokeNav.

_What the hell is he…_

Before I could finish, he drew a Pokeball from it, and pressed the button to release its contents. All I could do was freeze on the spot in fear and curiosity to what he was doing.

"I'm sorry for being so rude, but would you mind dying, right here and now?_"_

…_.._

**Oooooh, my first real cliffhanger, or what it feels like to me! I usually want to upload new chapters during the weekends, but this ended up being loaded on a Monday (UGGGH!) Hopefully, I'll be able to add a scene next time with some actually scenes of violence. It will be a new experience to get a serious action scene.**

**Anyways, if you like this story, and especially if you hate Mondays, tell me what I could improve on in your reviews!(I mean, seriously, hundreds of hits and visitors, and only 7 reviews? I am disappoint.**


	14. The Ghosthunter

John's POV

It's been a while since Kari and Mitsune joined me for the trip around the mall, and she seemed to be enjoying herself as she dragged me around various stores. Most of them were the usual girly-girl shops, like clothing stores and toy stores featuring her favorite Pokemon plushies. Of course, it was not so easy-there was people pointing at us, especially Kari for holding onto Mitsune. She attracted all the little children and it bugged us to no end. Despite Kari's girly antics and interests, though, I couldn't help but smile a little at her laughs. It's been a while since I felt so relaxed.

After walking out of the video game store we just entered (with me leering though a pane of glass at boxes of Nintendo 3DS, wishing I had mine back instead of a 10-pound PokeNav-I left that and the Pokeball at home), I took a good look at Kari. She looked like she was sweating from wearing her golden fur coat all the time.

"Hmm, maybe I should wear a coat that matches your colour scheme. We would be able to fit it more comfortably in this crowd. What do you think, Maria?"

"..."

"Maria, are you lis…" I looked down in my arms and remembered: she was gone.

_Oh…right. She left on her own._ I put my open hands in my pocket and tried to act like nothing was wrong. And honestly, there really was nothing, but it just felt like something was_._ I couldn't help but feel a bit empty on this. Sure there were Kari and Mitsune, but it just wasn't the same as having Maria with me. Even quiet, she felt nice to hug and just have her around.

_Looks like I've grown used to her, after all this time_. Instinctively, I checked my watch I wore and read: 2:23 p.m.

"My God, I've been here for a while!" I turned to Kari and explained myself. "Listen, Kari, I gotta go find Maria. We've been here for about 2 hours, and mom probably thinks we got lost."

Kari just nodded and returned with a small smirk. "Don't worry, that's fine with me. Besides, I didn't want our little date to go along for _too_ long, anyways."

"Wha…" I instantly blushed at the idea and brushed it off. I didn't know she could think such a way. "We were not going on a date! We just met by chance in the mall and just had a walk together!" I shouted loudly enough to get my annoyance across, but not enough to attract attention from people around us.

"Calm down, I don't mean it like that!" Kari laughed out, with Mitsune giggling in her arms. I slowly began to grow frustrated. _Grrrh! Why do all girls have to act so… so… GIRLY!_

I was just about to turn around and leave them with a quick "Good bye", but Mitsune perked her head up in the air all of a sudden. "What is it, Mitsune?" Kari asked her quietly.

"I don't know, but… I smell something." Mitsune muttered quietly, as if humiliated to speak in public.

"What? Metaphorically or literally?" I asked her absent-mindedly, still thinking where to start looking for Maria.

"Both, I guess. I think I smell…smoke_._"

"What? I don't smell anything, and people don't seem to notice anything." I spoke to her, gesturing to everyone around.

"John, you're not a fox like Mitsune, and animals naturally have a better sense of smell than people." She rebutted with a frown.

At that, my stomach instantly dropped. I turned my head around and faced Mitsune. "You don't think…"

"No way." Kari interjected automatically. "Misdreavus can't learn any fire-type moves. And I don't think I saw any stores selling Technical Machines." She said griml. As joking that may have sounded, a new thought entered my brain.

"Oh no… unless she somehow managed to cause an explosion, or there's a player here."

…

Maria's POV

_What the hell's up with this guy? Why does he want to kill me? Here, of all places?_

"Get back here, you… why won't you just die quietly and get this over with?"

He was screaming behind me while I propelled my now invisible self back to find John. I took a quick look around me: I saw nothing but rows and rows of colourful people in equally numerous white marble halls.

_Damn, where do I go?_ On impulse, I headed for the one nearest to me. I took another glance and saw the man was having a hard time trying to get past all the shoppers. Before he chased me down, he realized he couldn't run after me with his Pokemon out in the open, or it would cause mass panic. Whatever his Pokemon was, I couldn't recognize it, but it was obviously a fire-type, with the way it shot out that Flamethrower that roasted the corridor I was just in.

_Thank God I could phase through wall, otherwise I would have been a goner._ I stopped in my tracks and took in my surroundings. _Oh why does every intersection in this mall have to look so similar! Every time, it's a white hall connected to a round intersection with a Christmas tree in it! God, I am so lost right now!_

I heard a dim commotion behind me and saw him continue to follow me, shoving away people lost in confusion in the process. This was the first time I noticed: even with the crowd of different people in his way, he was still looking directly at me. Even with his sunglasses on, I could feel his stare on my body.

I took another random corridor and, to my luck, found a closed booth, with a steel curtain covering it and everything.

_Perfect. Just what I need_. I phased through it and saw the square room was quite large and almost had a feeling of a maze with its numerous rows of white stands, ready to hold up whatever products it's supposed to hold. The walls were covered in black paint and decorated with white stripes, Christmas ornaments excluded. I saw the cashier's counter right at the back and hid myself behind it.

_Fine, he may be able to see ghosts, but can he see through wall? I can't, but let's see._ But even with this fun idea of cat-and-mouse, I couldn't help but notice, now that I've calmed down, just how fast my heart was beating, and how my senses were spiked with adrenaline, picking up every little detail I could see and hear. Hot sweat was dropping from my pink hair and stinging my skin. My hair, usually so fluffy and curly, were now damp and packed from the perspiration and I was rapidly inhaling and exhaling trying to calm down. I also realized I've been constantly checking my surroundings, jerking my head left and right trying to find out what to do.

_This is what a Pokemon battle is? It's so much more different than what John and Kari and Jess told me, about how the Pokemon battles took place in fields or stadiums._ Now I felt nothing but pure fear. How ironic, feeling something I feed off of affecting me like this. I laughed quietly at myself for this. _What a load of BS. Whoever showed John how a Pokemon battle works clearly never did it in public._

Between my thoughts, I heard a small _**CLICK!**_coming from behind the iron curtain, followed by people screaming. A couple taps on the curtains told me someone was behind it. I raised my head over the table and heard sizzling coming from it, and it slowly turned red from heat until _the curtain melted off from its chains_, forming a steaming pool of lava-like liquid on the rug, instantly lighting a small ember.

"I'm getting really impatient now, Misdreavus. You just had to have me blow my cover, but I never imagined you would hide in such an obvious hide spot."

I heard the man's voice again, but I heard another one accompany it. It was deep and husky and it seemed to be chuckling, from how he let out short bursts of laughs. I recognized the voice as the Pokemon he let loose on me before. The iron sheet completely melted away at this point and revealed both of them. I could hear people running in fear, but that were the least of my problems.

The Pokemon was the same as I remembered him. The stranger only let him out to char the hallway I was previously in pitch-black, but his image remained solid in my mind. He was just shorter than him, reaching his trainer's neck, but had a much wider and round, almost circular build, like it had one whole muscle for each body part. It had a narrow colour scheme or red and yellow, fitting its disposition as a fire-type and had fire bellowing from its shoulders and head, swing wildly from left to right. He had black legs but red feet with two nails extending from each, all attached to a pair of pink thighs, the same as its wide lips. Its most prominent feature, though, was its yellow arms, or if those tubes could be called arms and hands. I could see tiny claws on their edges and thick black cuffs up midway to his shoulder.

"Ahh, I bet you just witnessed Magmortar's Flame Body. Now you see why I put him away in his Pokeball before I chased you down. I may not look it, but just standing here is making me sweat bullets. I would be burnt if it weren't for these heat-resistant clothes. Don't try to ignore me. I know you're here, might as well come out and face the inevitable." I turned myself invisible and hid myself again before his little introduction, but he knew I was here either way.

_Oh man, what do I do? _

"Now, come out and _maybe_I'll decide to let you live. With your puny size, I doubt you could handle even one of Magmortar's Flamethrowers. Now I'm not saying that's his only move, but his other moves are so strong I think this entire store would come down if he used any." And chuckled at his threat, his Magmortar repeating after him.

"I bet you're wondering "How did he manage to follow me all this way?" Simply put, these sunglasses I have let me see heat generated from animals, including you. All I did was follow your adrenaline-spike body here. NOW WHERE ARE YOU!" The last words from him left me in such a shock I couldn't help but bump into the desk I was under.

"That's it! Magmortar, Flamethrower!" was the last thing I heard before I heard an almighty explosion erupt from the other side of the store, releasing a blinding flash of flames, and left a roaring fire of steel and . But the scariest bit was that even though I was a good 10 meters away, I could feel its heat reach all the way here, even with the desk providing cover. It was getting hard to breathe with the enormous fire creating smoke and thick waves of heat.

" done trying to negotiate! Magmortar, stand in the middle of the store and use Lava Plume! That'll flush the place out!"

_Aw hell, if only all this smoke wasn't chocking me, I could concentrate just enough to phase through the wall! Damn it all!_

**PPPSSSSHHHHH!**

"Hey! What the hell!" I heard the trainer scream over the sudden sound of something sizzling. I looked over the counter I was hiding under and saw him take of his glasses and enter the store himself. But the thing that made me almost laugh in joy was at the ceiling. Out from numerous tiny spouts came the Magmortar's weakness: water_._ Standing right in the middle of the store got him in the perfect position to be showered, and the sound of sizzling was coming from the water rapidly evaporating off his body. Thankfully, even that thin layer seemed to be doing enough damage to distract him.

_Perfect. Now that they turned their attention to the water, it's my turn to bite back!_ I turned myself invisible again and readied myself a Confusion to quickly swipe the sunglasses out of the man's hand.

"What! Grrrh, that Misdreavus planned this! Didn't you!" Came his response, but I was too busy breaking his glasses in two to care. Now with that out of the way, I readied a Psywave and aimed it right at the Magmortar's head, still closing its eyes shut from the pain of water

"Maaag, magmor!" was his reaction to my attack striking his temple. He stumbled back a bit, and with his legs horribly disproportionate to his body size, it easily fell over to the rug with a boom, steam still generating from his bloated torso. I gave a small chuckle to congratulate myself, but still kept my focus. If what the trainer said was true, then that Magmortar was way too powerful for me to take down permanently, and his size was proof of that. I could just stall for time until John or Kari and Mitsune came and we could get out of here.

"MARIA! Get out of there!"

_Speak of the devil!_

I turned around and cracked a smile saw them: John, Kari and Mitsune,

"Hey! Finally, you showed up, but don't worry, I got-"

Sadly, all of my thoughts were shattered when I heard a **Clik** behind me. I didn't realize I turned visible again in the panic ensued.

…

John's POV

I instantly froze and I felt Kari freeze up too next to me. I couldn't blame her; the sight alone would make anyone petrified. A man about Alex's height, but much older, shoved his right hand into his jacket's inner pocket and whipped out a pistol.

"NOBODY MOVE! YOU EVEN FLINCH AND I BLOW BOTH YA BRAINS OUT!" he roared out at us, and pointed his gun at our heads. He was about 20 meters away, and I know that aiming a gun is harder than in looks, but at this point, I wasn't going to risk getting shot at.

Kari immediately threw her hands in the air, dropping Mitsune to the ground in the process. I just stood there, frozen at the barrel pointed at me. Maria froze in the air too. I told her what guns were, how they were weapons used by people, but I never knew what bullets could do ghost-types, and I never wanted to find out. Behind Maria and the man, I saw the Magmortar stand up and grab Maria in his cannon-like arms, chuckling in satisfaction.

"Good! Now if you want to stay in one piece, send that Vulpix under you over here. With its Pokeball. Roll it over." he ordered us. I turned my head slowly to see Kari, but she remained as if in a trance. I gently nudged her side with my elbow to wake her up, and she gasped in surprise.

"Kari, calm down. Just do what he tells you, and you'll be fine. But while I'm here, why do you want our Pokemon anyways?" That last bit was directed at the stranger. I must have been crazy, trying to talk to a person with a gun facing us, but I couldn't just stand there doing nothing while Maria was about to be burnt to a crisp.

The stranger simply laughed in a cold, droning voice to answer my question. "Let me ask _you_ something in return: why do you want to keep that Misdreavus so bad? Pokemon are dangerous creatures, they're monsters! Have you ever thought what they could do if they were to break out and go on a rampage? It would be disastrous! I don't know why everyone like you wanted one! That's why I trained Magmortar here hard enough to kill any Pokemon I need it to." He answered snidely, as if it was the most obvious answer.

I inhaled a quick breath in surprise to his answer._ It's the exact same thing I thought when I first saw Maria. _

"Well then," I started, trying to distract as long as possible, but the fear of his finger on the trigger still froze me to my spot, and made me hesitate a bit. "Why do you have that Magmortar? If Pokemon are so dangerous, than you could kill him, right there! You see what he did to that store?"

He turned around to see the lightly blazing compartment. I noticed that the sprinklers ran out of water, the remaining embers slowly began to flicker and light up into a flame again.

The stranger just smiled and lowered his gun just a bit, so that the barrel now pointed somewhere around our feet. _Thank God, at least he's getting lax. Just a bit more…_

"Don't worry. Magmortar's just here to kill off any that I can't hurt with my bullets, just like your precious Misdreavus here. When all the Pokemon are gone, I got plans for him. And as for the store, well… let's just that we all gotta pay a price to do the right thing. Don't think of me as a villain here, I'm just trying to do what's right. Human kind has enough problems as it is. I'm just trying to keep the status quo." Helaughed some more, his voice echoing through the empty mall.

_Well, at least that part about Magmortar proves he can't hurt Maria, but you… how can you think like that? I expected people to use Pokemon for thievery or crimes, but this is insane! _At this point my arms were actually shaking in fear.

"Kari, you got that Pokeball yet?" I asked gently, but audible enough for the man to hear me. She flinched a bit at my question, and slowly pulled her coat sleeve and showed us her PokeNav. She pressed a button with trembling fingers and grabbed the glimmering Pokeball in her thin, shivering hands. I trembled when I saw her face-tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"That's it. Now just roll it over here, and tell that Vulpix of yours to come here too. After that, both of you, get your asses out of here." He resumed his threatening tone and we reluctantly followed. Before Kari tossed the Pokeball to the ground, however, I grabbed it out of her hands instead. Kari turned her head to me, a mixture of fear and confusion in her eyes, but I put on a brave face.

"Don't worry. I have a plan, but you need to get out of here. I'll catch up with you when I'm done. Just go, and leave Mitsune here." was all I said to her, but she seemed to take it well. She gave Mitsune one last hug. I could see tears running down both their faces and I felt my gut wrench at what's about to come.

"Aww, how nice. One last heartwarming embrace before you separate forever. Not to ruin your fun, but hurry up! Better that fox than you!" I heard the man interrupt the moment, and awoke Kari before she ran out of sight.

_Good. Now that she's out of the way, I gotta save Maria. _I knelt down next to Mitsune, and pet her warm fur to try to calm her down. She was shivering fearfully, but no amount of petting would calm her. I opened my mouth just the slightest and whispered to her.

"Calm down. When you get close enough, I need you to get that Magmortar to drop Maria. Try to keep him busy from there. Once Maria's free, I'll take the man. I'll tell you when to start." She looked at as if she couldn't believe her pointy ears.

"I know it sounds like a half-assed plan, and it is, but think of it like this: either way, we're gonna die, so might as well try." I told her with a sheepish grin. She muttered a quick "Gotcha." and grinned before slowly walking towards the man, right between him and the Magmortar.

_Perfect._ After she walked in to the left of the man, I bent over to roll the Pokeball to him. When it reached to the right side of his feet, he smiled and bowed his head a little, as if to respect my action.

"Thank you for your cooperation. You can now leave without us hurting you. Not that it matters, but I would appreciate it if you would keep this a secret between, not that I'm saying we will see each other again." He then put his gun into his jacket again while craning over to pick up the Pokeball.

That's when I made my move.

"NOW!" everything after that happened so fast like a machine it was hard to remember the details of our responses. I was sprinting directly for the man, who then flashed around to look at Mitsune. She jumped about 3 feet into the air and released a quick Ember that hit the Magmortar square on his face. He immediately released Maria from his cannon arms, and she looked at me as if she thought I was crazy. And I probably thought I was, too, but now was not the time to ponder.

"Maria, use Confuse Ray on the man!" I roared out while the man in question dropped Mitsune's Pokeball in surprise. Instantly, Maria nodded in agreement and aimed her gaze to the man next to her. Her eyes started to glow like it did when she used it on those two girls, but I was busy concentrating on trying to body tackle the man to the ground. I lunged forward in my run and grabbed him by the middle into the store, the flame now starting to extinguish from running out of material to burn.

"Hurry up!" I managed to scream out in the middle of the man and my struggles, but Maria finally managed to stare at his eyes long enough to make him starry-eyed, which told me it worked, and I released my grip on him.

"Nice plan! Incapacitating the enemy instead of harming him! Good call!"

Only one man had that voice and talked like that. "Alex! Light!" and to answer my calls, I saw them behind me, looking like they just ran a marathon, panting and sweating to prove their endeavors.

"Took you long enough, we were just about to be shot dead before you came in the scene like a hero! Aren't you the one that's supposed to take care of crap like this?" I shouted as I grabbed Mitsune's Pokeball from the ground next to the man I just tackled.

"Sorry we're late! All the people evacuating from the single entrance really slowed me down." Alex managed to gasp out, while Light readied himself for a fight with the Magmortar, who quickly turned his attention to Light in return. Seeing them made me sigh in relief, now that everything was going to calm down.

"Maria! Can you use Confuse Ray on the Magmortar, too? We want them alive." Alex shouted out to her, who was trying to take on Magmortar along with Light and Mitsune. Magmortar aimed his arms at Light, trying to expose his weakness to fire-type moves, but Maria smartly used Sucker Punch to interrupt him just in time. With Magmortar attempting to recover from a punch from Light he threw right after, Maria hovered eye-level to Margmortar and shot him a Confuse Ray. He then proceeded to lumber around like a drunkard around to store, fire forming around the footsteps he took.

**BANG!**

"GAAARGH! WHAT THE F- GRR!" was the next thing that pierced my ears. I turned around and gasped at what I saw-the man stood back on his feet, and his gun was aimed at Alex, who was kneeling on the ground, clenching his right shoulder with his left hand. I could see messy splotches of black around his blue jacket and realized what happened.

"YOU!" I screamed out at the top of my lungs. I didn't care if he had a gun pointed at me, I didn't care Maria and Mitsune turned their eyes to me, shocked at my action, I just wanted to plunge him to the ground. I couldn't care less about what would happen to me…

"You idiot! Move out of the way! Get out of the store NOW!" That caught me off guard and stopped me in my tracks, and I saw the man changed his aim just slight above me, right next to my head. I turned around and saw just what he was really aiming at: his Magmortar.

And with good reason: Magmortar had his own two cannons pointed directly at both of us, still under the effect of the Confuse Ray.

At that point I instinctively jumped to my right, to the entrance of the store, and I saw Alex and Light jump with me outside. My face and stomach colliding with the cold ceramic floor was the last thing I felt before the sound of another gunshot went into my ears, right before I felt a heavy blanket of heat over my body. I knew that if I wasted another second in the store, I wouldn't have made it out at all. I took a glance at the store and saw that the explosion from that Magmortar left a bigger damage than I thought; the whole store looked like a miniature hell from where I stood, fire flickering and cracking every few seconds, every window out in front broken, and smoke positively pouring out into the air. Needless to say, that was more than just a mere Flamethrower.

After taking a few breathers and balancing myself to my feet, I turned around and faced Light, who was supporting Alex and helping him stand up. Alex jerked his head to me and grinned with relief, knowing that I was alright. I looked down at myself, making sure I was unburned from the explosion. A couple strings and cotton here and there glowed with small embers, but I quickly patted them away, glad that I didn't have any injuries. I turned around and faced Maria and Mitsune, looking to make sure they were alright.

Only one problem: they weren't there.

…

**Well, damn! This chapter took me, what, one and a half weeks to finish, and all in the dead of night! I hope any regular readers of this fic aren't too pissed at my tardiness. My original plan was to write a chapter every week, but it seems like I can only write at nighttime, so I could only do so much a day.**

**Anyways, remember to leave your comments and reviews, and keep reading! I'm uploading this chapter in Friday, so I hope to have enough creative juices to at least write another one on Saturday.**


	15. Rescue & Reassurance

John's POV

"NO!"

And I was sprinting back into the building like a madman. I couldn't believe it-_those 2 were still in there_?

All of a sudden, I felt a hand grab my pants and I looked down at Alex, who had Light apply pressure to his shoulder wound. He was still kneeling down on the floor to recover himself, but looked at me with a determined look on his face.

"Don't you dare! My job is to protect the people, including trainers like you! Don't worry about them; Light will get them out. Out of all of us, he's the most physically fit man, and he can trace their auras, making it even easier to find them! Just stay here and wait; I called for help already, and they should be here any minute." Alex groaned out at me, obviously still in pain from the bullet. If I was any normal man, I would have shut up, stayed still and let Light take care of the job.

But I disagreed instantly. "No. That's store's getting burnt black, and Lucario probably won't make it, being a steel-type." I felt a small sting in my stomach for my argument. Alex has been trying to keep Pokemon a secret from everyone, and I respected and thanked him for that, but every second spent talking right now was a second lost that could have been used to save them. I freed myself from his grasp and made a dash towards the entrance, ignoring Alex's pleas to come back.

"Sorry, but I can't live with another death because of me!" was the last thing I screamed before I felt the fire tickle my skin with blistering heat, and the roars of the flames drowned out any further noise.

…

_Damn, this place is hotter than it looks. How do firefighters resist this, even with their suits!_

I took a few steps into the middle of the store and looked around at my surroundings, hoping to get a good idea of where Maria and Mitsune were. Everywhere I looked, there was fire. The heat from the heat was bending the light, like a mirage and made everything look fuzzy. The vibrant colours of red and yellow blinded my eyes as much as the fire burnt my skin, but I held on. Not a second passed and I was already starting to gasp from the lack of oxygen, and my throat stung from the blazing air I was inhaling every second. Entering my nostrils was the smell of burning metal and cardboard, stinging my nose and mouth. I quickly put the hood of my jacket on, keeping my hair from burning up.

_Damn! Maybe Alex was right. Not even 3 seconds in and I already feel like I'm about to die! But I came this far, I'm not gonna back out!_

"Maria! Mitsune! Where are you! Scream out if you can hear me!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. It was probably a bad idea, screaming out in a room with low oxygen-I was just using up my precious air, but I was desperate.

I stayed there for a few more seconds before nothing but the continuous roars of fire was all I heard.

"Dammit!" I ran blindly between the stands in front of me, thinking that Maria or Mitsune may have taken cover behind them from the explosion. I ignored the blisters slowly starting to form on my skin from the heat that pierced my flesh and making me cringe, and checked through each of the halls made from the stands, giving me the impression of being in a maze.

"…one…ease…elp…"

The voice was faint, but I heard it, and it came from the very back of the store. Excited, I sprinted to the back and saw that the explosion the Magmortar didn't completely reach all the way throughout the store. At the back, there was little fire, and only the rug looked like the only material left to burn. As I ran, I noticed that one of the stands fell over and the most curious thing happened-_the fire around it was being sucked in underneath the stand._

That was all I needed to know something was under there, and I ran next to it. After a few breaths to catch myself, I saw something silver was showing underneath. I would have paid no heed, except that it looked like fur, and it was swaying back and forth.

"…ohn, you there…"

This time, I could hear the voice much more clearly, but it was one I never heard before. It was smooth and deeper than Mitsune's or Maria's. I knew something was crushed under there, and I crouched down to lift the steel stand and find out what.

One problem: the stand was heated up like crazy from the explosion alone, and I felt my fingers burn instantly.

_Damn, I gotta grit my teeth and just do it! The faster I rescue them, the better!_

I took a second to steel myself (no pun intended) and clenched the edges of the stand and lifted it. The weight of it alone made me struggle, but with the burning sensation of heated iron made it even tougher for me to grip it. Amazingly, though, after a few seconds, I managed to lift the stand upright, but I couldn't feel my hands in return. I was more concentrated on whatever I just rescued, however, and I couldn't believe my eyes.

It was a gigantic fox, easily identified as the Pokemon Ninetales. Only thing different, though, was the colour of the fur. Instead of golden yellow, it was bright silver, and each of its nine tails had a tint of blue at the end instead of red. I noticed that even with the weight off of her, she wasn't moving, and her eyes were closed. I looked at the fires surrounding us, and noticed that they were indeed being absorbed by her, seeping into her fur and extinguishing itself.

"Mitsune! Is that you? Come on, please get up! We need to get out of here!" I shouted out, and managed to shake her awake. She groggily shook here silver-haired head and looked at me with half-closed eyes. They were completely red from the smoke and I flinched at its menacing look.

"John, is that you…?"

I was so happy that she was okay, but she gave a small yelp when she used her legs to stand up.

"Mitsune, I know you must be hurt, but we need to get out of here now! Where's Maria?" I asked her, my throat now starting to give away from exhaustion and my question coming out in rasps. She motioned to her tails on the ground that was absorbing the surrounding fire, and lifted them away, revealing a knocked-out Maria, panting for breath.

"Oh thank God, Maria!" and I crouched down next to her and brought her to my arms, hugging her into my chest, before she suddenly snapped awake and shook her way out.

"John, calm down, I'm fine! More importantly we need to get out of here!" She screamed out at me, and I nodded in response. I turned my head and faced the exit about 20 meters away.

"But how the hell are we gonna get past the fire? Do we just run for it?" I asked myself. The fire has indeed now reached the depths of the store, and we were surrounded with blinding flickers of red and yellow everywhere we looked. Even the ceiling caught fire, and I heard some light bulbs break overhead.

_Damn it all…after all this, we're just trapped here?_

"Excuse me, but did you forget little old me? I may be injured, but I can still walk." I looked down and saw Mitsune walking towards the fire, smiling as she did so. I was just about to tell her to stop, but realized that all the fire around her was continuing to be drawn towards her and soaked up like water into sponge. Maria gasped at what we were seeing. I shook my head away after a second of the demonstration and nodded to her, still carrying Maria in my arms.

_Flash Fire…of course, why didn't I realize it sooner!_

"Right. Mitsune, lead the way!" and she dashed off in a straight line towards to exit, leaving an empty trail of charred carpet of me to follow. I hugged Maria deeper into my chest and ran past the road made from Mitsune. Now that there was a clear shot at making out of this, I noticed that I was getting dizzy and light-headed, and I started to swing side to side. I was running low on oxygen.

"Come on, almost there…" I said to myself, trying to stay awake. If I collapsed at this point, the fire would consume both me and Maria, and Mitsune wouldn't come back at this point. I followed the silver blurry outlines of the Ninetales' fur, and limped my way as fast as I could towards it. My arms and legs were definitely blistering at this point, but it was better than having my skin roasted-besides, I would have wasted precious time if I wanted to take off my coat. After a few more steps, I could see the bright light of outside, and started to sprint my way, desperate to breathe clean air again.

"Don't worry, Maria, we're there! Just a few more…" and I took my first step onto hard ceramic. The sudden change in scenery hurt my eyes from the difference in light and I closed my eyes in response. After a few seconds, I recovered and realized something more important-we made it out alive.

"Hah! See, I told you we would make it out!" I opened my eyes and looked around. Despite the racket we made and the people running out the building, the whole place was still flawless and not a single decoration and tree looked out of place. Alex looked stunned, and I noticed Light was gone (probably in his Pokeball). Mitsune was next to him, smiling widely at my arrival.

"Hey, is help here yet?" My throat was still weak, and my words were raspy and dry. Alex looked around us and spotted something behind me.

"Yeah they're here! Hey, over here!" he shouted as loud as he could to whatever was coming towards us. I could hear a few mummers from them, but I paid no attention. I relaxed and let go of Maria, and she floated eye-level to me, looking tired from the ordeal, but happy, regardless, with a small smile on her face.

"Heh, and Alex though I wouldn't make it out of there…don't worry, Maria, I'm al…"

….

I opened my eyes and gave a groan of pain. I hands curled with the pain and the first thing I noticed was that they were covered, up to my forearms, in white bandages.

_What the…where am I?_

I looked around and it didn't take me long to find out I was in a hospital. I was on a snow white bed and covered in an equally white wool blanket. I slowly turned my head to my left and saw the interior of the room I was in. Before my eyes could focus, however, I heard a door nearby open, revealing Alex, with my mom right behind him, and immediately began to scream out at the sight of me.

"Oh John! Oh thank God you're alright! I was worried sick! Are you alright? Do you need anything? Oh Alex, I can't thank you enough for this! I just-"

"Yes, we know you are grateful, so just please calm down, Mrs. Evans! Please remember I'm a patient here, too!" Alex replied to her with a bit of laughter in his voice, holding his hands up in defense. "Now please, calm down. The doctors at the reception hall need you, remember?"

My mom recoiled at the fact, and blushed slightly at the realization. "Oh you're right! I need to fill in those forms for John! John, don't move out of that bed!" and scarpered out the room, closing the door shut behind her.

Alex laughed out loud at her exit, and I chuckled along. "She's a nice mother." He said to me lightly.

"Yeah." I tried to curl my hands again, despite the pain striking through them every time. I turned my eyes to Alex for a while, and he turned his body towards me.

"How long was I out for?" I wondered out loud.

"About 3 hours. It's still only 6 o'clock. Don't worry about me, the bullet only grazed my shoulder. But more importantly," his tone immediately took a serious turn, and he was no longer smiling. "what were you thinking? You knew that despite Light's weakness to fire, he was most likely to make it out of that wreck alive!" His voice froze me to my spot, and I couldn't do anything but look down at my bandaged hands, feeling like crap from his reprimand. "You're lucky you only suffered from smoke inhalation and some second-degree burns from that! You could have died in there! What were you thinking!"

I was scared beyond my wits from his screams at me. It was worse than any lecture my parents ever gave me, because of one thing: guilt. I knew that he was right, and Light would have made it out alive, but I was so shocked from the thought of Maria in a building on fire.

"I guess…" I started off quietly, still looking down. "I was just not thinking right, okay? I know that I could have died, but I couldn't just stand there at let her get killed!" I retorted back. Alex was visibly stunned for a few moments, but regained himself and fired another question. This time he took a nearby chair and sat on it, calming down and talking more softly.

"Sorry, but I can't help but remember…what did you mean when you said you can't live with another death?"

This caught me off-guard, but I didn't show any reactions, and just replied with a "Huh?"

"You heard what I said." Alex pressed on, his voice assuming its original strong volume, like when he spoke with my dad about keeping Maria. "You said to me, before you dashed into the store, that you couldn't live with another death in your mind. What was that about?"

I instantly regretted saying that out loud now. I know he won't take no for an answer, and it would only piss him off more if I didn't answer.

Besides, I needed to get it of my shoulder now. I sat up from my bed and looked at my arms.

"I told my friends this story, but not this much. About how before I came to DulcetDrift, I was in an elementary school filled with not-so friendly students. Almost every day, they would bully me, taking my stuff and even beating me up. After a particularly painful beating and teasing, I gave myself these babies." While I was talking, I gingerly took my right hand and unwrapped my left arm's bandages. After a few minutes, the bandages reached to my left wrist, revealing two long thin scars across it, reddish-brown from healing and time.

I looked up from them and to Alex's face, and his face was frozen, his eyes staring intently at the marks. I haven't taken a good look at them, as the watch I usually wear blocked them out.

"It wasn't enough to kill me though. After I recovered from my little depression, the entire school realized what happened, and the bullies were the first to apologize."

"But it was a façade. After the first day after I came back to school, they went to beat me up like nothing ever happened. That was when I got this, as a little welcome-back present." I now unraveled my right arm, showing him the scars forming hieroglyphics on my flesh. Alex's expression didn't change, but his mouth opened itself in awe.

"Right after they finished carving their message on my arm, I…guess you could say I snapped. Before they could act, I took the knife they were using, and…one of them…the rest ran away." No matter how I tried, I couldn't get that word out, my throat stuck with something when I was about to say it.

"Thankfully, no charges were pressed, everyone insisting that since I was a minor, and it was in self-defense, we didn't suffer much. But, even after we got past that, and moved here to DulcetDrift, everything, from my social life to my family relations, everything went downhill from there." I finished off, and re-wrapped the bandages back in place. I looked at my arms and realized they were shaking, not from the cold air sweeping past them, but my depression. I reached up to scratch my eyes, which were, surprisingly, dry.

After a few minutes of complete silence, Alex broke it, in a quiet, gentle voice that made me shiver in its comfort. "So. Maria means that much to you?" he said with a small smile.

I smiled back and let out a soft laugh. My throat was aching from the smoke before, but now it seemed stronger and I produced a full voice. "I guess I do. I don't want to lose her. Even if it means burning myself and being hospitalized, it's worth it. I noticed-ever since Maria came into my life, everything changed. I have friends, my family laughs together at dinner, and…"

"Whoa, slow down there, little man." Alex interrupted me, laughing on his own and giving me an assuring pat on my back. "Don't go spilling all your confessions to me at once. I work for the government, not the local church." He stood up from his chair and proceeded to the door, opening it halfway.

"Who says you can't do both?" I spoke up to him, and giggled a little at my joke. He just ignored it and looked at me with big grin.

"Sorry if I was a little harsh in this conversation. I just want to protect, just like you. It's a trainer's job to not only train Pokemon, but protect them if necessary. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go talk to your mother. I won't tell her about this, don't worry." Alex said simply, and silently closed the door behind him.

I drew a deep sigh after a few seconds after. I looked away from the door and turned my head to my right, in front of a giant window on the wall. Outside, the sunlight was fading, and various buildings surrounded a dark garden outside. I saw about a dozen men hauling a giant tree, looking about 10 meters high, out of an equally large truck on the road, and dragged it along the pavement ground to the centre of the garden. I smiled at the miniature men's endeavors.

_Looks like they're gonna set up the Christmas tree for the hospital. I'm still pretty sleepy, but I gotta see this baby light up._

_But before I do…_

"Maria. I know you're there. Show yourself."

…

Maria's POV

_What? He could see me…all this time?_

I wanted to stay invisible, try to prove his senses wrong, but I couldn't keep my invisibility up, and made myself visible, and hovered my way towards him. I was hiding right at one of the corners of the room, but he somehow managed to find me. I sat down on the chair Alex used moments ago to talk with John, and I looked at the ground.

"How did you know I was here?" was all I could say to him. I was still shaken by his confession about me. I never knew he thought that way about me, especially about how I affected his life like that.

"Honestly, I wasn't 100% sure you were in the room. It just felt like a dramatic moment to me." And chuckled despicably.

"What!" I couldn't believe it! I thought he had some kind of sixth sense to me, or at least heard me, but how could he predict where I was just from the dramatic tension! He ignored my shock, and turned to the window.

"Yeah, I turned myself invisible the whole time, from the mall to the entire trip here, to the hospital. Was all that you said true? About how you got that scar? I thought I saw something there last night."

Instantly the atmosphere changed. The temperature felt like it just dropped 5 degrees, and from the glass window's reflection, I could see John's smile drop. I automatically angled my face to the floor in shame at what I just did.

_Nice job, Maria! You just had to remind him again about such a sad event!_

"Yes."

I looked up from the dark colour of the chair I was on and stared at him. "Yes, everything, from my scars to the part about you. It's all true, and I don't know how I'm going to make it any more true. I guess I never had the chance to actually say it. I mean who would want to say something so private?" and resumed smiling out the window.

_My God. He really thinks that way? I never knew…I just thought I was a bother, always causing him from day 1, making him suffer from trying to hide me from his parents…causing that chaos in his school…and now, I ended up almost…_

"I bet you hate me now." I said out loud. He jerked his head towards my direction with a shocked look, making me flinch at his reaction.

"Why do you think I would think that?" He asked, his voice shuddering, scaring me even more than before.

"Isn't it obvious?" I almost shouted those words at him. I couldn't contain this strange frustration anymore-ever since he carried me out that flaming store and fainted right after; I couldn't stop this weird feeling of guilt. "If I didn't suggest you bring me, then none of this would have happened, and we wouldn't be stuck here and you wouldn't have your hands burnt like that! Everything that happened was all because-"

"STOP."

I stopped talking.

The voice was different from his normal voice. I never heard John talk like this before. It was solid, and it felt like in hit me right in the face and go through my entire body. The voice itself was deep, deeper than any tone I heard from anyone in my life, and the way he spoke it sent shivers all the way from my stomach to my hair. He bowed his head and faced the blanket, and clenched it in his hands, looking like he was going to rip it in two.

"Please, just…stop…" All of a sudden, I saw John do something I never seen him do-he _cried._ Tears were literally pouring from his eyes, dripping down his red cheeks and onto the white blanket, leaving black wet stains on it, and he eventually buried his entire face into it. It was weird though-even with all the tears coming out, I didn't hear a single sniffle from him. He just looked frozen in place, hugging the blanket to his face.

_Just like I did…_

I continued to look down, but I slowly flew my way to John, on his blanket, where he still had his face buried in his bandaged arms. I started to feel tears running down my own face, but I kept my voice sturdy when I spoke out.

"John… please. Throughout my entire time with you, I felt like I did nothing but hold you back. Honestly. I thought, from what you told me, Pokemon were supposed to help people aren't they?. But all this time, you were the one trying to help me. I just…"

"Feel worthless? Like trash?" John finished off, albeit muffled from the wool blanket. He took it off his face and looked into my eyes. They were a bit red, but they were dry now, and he had a smile on his face. I never thought a simple smile would be so calming for me. I stopped crying and looked back at him.

"Don't worry, I know that feeling. You're not the only one. But please don't blame yourself for everything that goes wrong." Suddenly, he grabbed me with both hands and brought me into his chest, hugging me tightly. His cotton shirt was soft, rubbing against my face, and the heat from his body made it all the more heavenly. I shivered at the whole experience-I was close enough to literally smell him, but I didn't pay attention to such things and just relaxed in his grip.

"Maria, you're the best thing that ever happened to me. Really. I don't regret anything that happened involving you, and you shouldn't, either. So please don't cry like me. I'm sorry, but I can't stand people crying." And he laughed gently.

I swear at that point, if I wasn't concentrating so hard, I would have just bawled into him, making a great mess of tears and boogers. But I hung on, and after a few minutes into the embrace, I spoke up.

"But still, I can't get over the fact that you're hurt…"

All of a sudden, I felt my forehead growing hot, the part of me touching John's chest. Slowly, I felt pangs of pain appear all over me, not enough to hurt me for long, just sharp pokes here and there, like I was being pricked by needles every time I moved. I held my breath to keep my groans of pain in; now was not the time to get John worried about me. After a moment or two, I got tired from levitating and pressing against him, and I dropped to the bed.

"Maria, what was that? Was that a…Hey! Hey, Maria! My hands, they're alright, I can move them again! Maria, you see, I'm not hurt anymore, I…"

Even with his overjoyed voice making me smile on the inside, I couldn't take it anymore. I let out a small grunt of pain, like I was covered in scratches and bruises.

"Maria, are you alright? You don't look so good." John spoke, almost shouting the words, and grabbed me again, pulling me up face-to-face with him. Easily, this was enough to make my face a dozen shades darker, but I was too distracted by the pains all over me. It wasn't too bad, nothing that needed any first-aid or anything, but it was enough to make me moan a little. I shook myself from his grasp and looked at him with a grin.

"Don't worry. I don't know what happened…all of a sudden I just felt hot, and I just started to hurt all over. Don't worry though, it's not much…" But even with my confident voice and smile, he got a hold of me again and looked at me carefully, a trace of panic in his voice and eyes.

"Are you sure? You're okay?"

I frowned a little at his concern over me. He should be more worried about himself anyways. "Yeah, calm down! Jeez, you scared me for a minute there!"John gave a sigh of relief and went to hug me again. Despite the fact his arms and clothes were rubbing against me roughly, I had no complaints.

"What was that, though? A move? I thought moves were learnt by growing stronger?" I couldn't help but wonder out loud. John chuckled a little and thought to himself for a few seconds before answering back.

"It's called Pain Split, a move that, fitting its namesake, splits the pain between you and the target. But this time, instead of it being used to hurt the enemy and heal you, looks like the situation's been reversed. It's a move that only a few Pokemon can use, including the Misdreavus evolutionary line." And he patted my head, making me snuggle closer to him.

"You see? You helped me out big time right now! How can you call yourself weak and worthless now? So just please, don't think of yourself like that." With that, he let go of me, and laid himself onto his bed, making a creaking sound on impact.

_So, I can help him? Well, I just hope than I can help him in more ways that just hurting myself. If this keeps up, I won't last!_

"Oh hey, Maria, look! Out the window!"

His sudden voice startled me and I gave a small gasp before turning to John. He quickly got to his knees and placed his arms on the ledge below the giant window above me. I wondered what could be such importance, and I perched myself on the windowsill next to him, but all I saw was a tree in the middle of a park outside.

"What? You're that excited because of a tree?"

"Sssh! I want to see this!" he hushed me, and the both of us continued to look out.

All of a sudden, I saw why he was so excited about a tree. In a flash, a multitude of blinding sparkling lights radiated from the tree. The lights twinkled and changed colours, like the northern lights John told me about once. One moment, the lights were red, then minty green, to sunny yellow, and just pure white. The light from the decorations illuminated the whole park, and I could see the entire place as if it was still daytime. Dark green shrubs and flowers were covered in snow, making the reflected light look even brighter. The entire scenery looked like something you would see in a snow globe.

We both gave an "Aww" at the sight.

"Funny." John started beside me. "I never did like Christmas a lot. But now, even though I'm stuck in a hospital, hands bandaged and burnt, I still feel happy."

I could only smile and look at him with overjoyed eyes. "I could say the same to you."And he pulled me next to his head on the ledge, hugging me with one arm as he did.

_Now, this is the kind of day I want to have every day with John. John, once again, thank you._

…

**Whew! It was a long, hard work, but there it is! And just in time for Christmas! By the way, I had no intention to bring the theme of Christmas into the chapter, but now that it's here, I just decided "What the heck? Might as well!"Anyways, thank you for reading so far into my story! I hope any of you who are reading this, I hope you favorite this and add this to your alert list, and more importantly, leaves some reviews for my story.**

**Because if I get hundreds of hits and visits to this story, and not a single review for the new chapter, I'm gonna have to assume that all you readers are just cold, lazy bastards.**

**I kid, I kid.**

**But seriously, leave some reviews! I did my best trying to make this chapter as mushy as I could! I wanna make this story better every day, and I can't do that if I don't have anyone leaving comments, telling me what to improve! Anyone, even if you don't have an account, please leave an anonymous review! And thank you all for who have been reading this so far!**

**And one last message to anyone reading this:**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS, AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!**


	16. Maria's Mystery

John' POV

The next day, when the doctor came by to pick me up and change my bandages, were they surprised!

The doctor and the nurse were both flabbergasted to see that most of the burns were gone, and quickly consulted my mother as to what treatment she gave me. i thought they wanted to know what she used on me to make me heal so fast-2nd degree burns usually take weeks to heal. I slightly panicked at this magical recovery, wondering if Maria had suffered from receiving my burns, but Alex told me Pokemon naturally heal faster than humans, so I wasn't too worried.

After a few minutes, I walked back to my hospital room with invisible Maria. After another hour or so, I'll be out of the hospital and be back home for dinner.

"How was your first visit to the hospital, despite not even being a patient?" I asked her right after I closed the room door.

"Well, the office we were just in smells like old paper, the ER smelled like your bandages, and the beds are all very comfy." And she floated to mine, landing on the soft sheets.

I laughed quietly to myself and suddenly, the image of an anthropomorphic Maria in a nurse's outfit with her purple-skinned hands in surgeon gloves flashed in my head. I shook the thought away, slightly disturbed by my imagination. "I said what you thought of the hospital, not what it smelt like. But I guess you didn't get to see the entire building, anyways."

I made my way to the bed and sat down next to Maria and looked out the window, thinking about how I can replace my mattress back home with one of these-my back would suffer less and I could sleep more comfortably.

**BANG!**

"What the…" I turned around and saw a combination of people I never expected to see together: Kari with the same yellow coat from yesterday, Mitsune with a white cast around her left hind leg, Jess in a blue jacket and equally blue jeans, Alex, and strangely enough, a large black-and-grey dog behind them.

After they barged through the door, we just remained in our spot in awkward silence, before I decided to break it. "Well, hot damn! Mac, is that you!"

The big dog jogged in the room and laid himself on the bed, and had a proud grin on his face. "Yep. Check me out! A tiny Poochyena to a badass Mightyena you see here!" To prove his point, he flashed his white teeth at me and growled, making his fur ruffle and stand on end. I was a little intimidated from this (what did you expect, Mightyena's ability's called Intimidate for a reason), but he calmed down and laughed at my fear.

"Well, someone's a little cocky just because they evolved." I petted him on the head, making him tap the bed with his leg in satisfaction. "Jess, when did this happen?" I looked at her with a curious tone.

"Just today. My mom cancelled my ski trip, and I stayed in Dulcetdrift. I woke up and instead of a tiny puppy in the house, there was a huge one instead, looking like Mac took steroids or something." And she proceeded to giggle at her own joke.

"How will you hide him now, though? Maria told me you only managed to keep Mac by faking him as a dog. How will do it now that he's almost 3 times the size?"

Alex chose the perfect time to interrupt then. "Don't worry about that. Jess is the next person on my list to meet with. After we're out of here, I'm going to her house and consult with her mother. Worst case scenario, she'll kick Mac out, but I'll be able to keep him at my place."

Mac gave a small groan of dissatisfaction beside me, and a frown was etched on him. "I don't want to leave Jess, but if it means keeping her out of trouble, then I'll go with it. Don't worry, Jess." He said to Jess in question, a smile back on his face. "He may be the one taking care of me, but I'll miss you, and I'll be sure to visit you. And if Alex doesn't…" Mac bared his impressive full row of gleaming teeth and growled at Alex, who walked over to pet him.

"Don't worry, you'll get the chance, but I hope Jess's mother will understand that you mean no harm, and let you stay."

I heard Jess gave an earnest "I'm sure you'll do a good job, Mr. Arlon!"

"I wish people would stop calling me 'Mister' all the time, it makes me feel old." Everyone in the room gave off light giggles that vibrated off the walls. While that was going on, I turned my attention to Mitsune, who was sitting on the ground next to one of the iron bed posts.

"How's the leg, Mitsune? It's broken?" I was a bit worried when I first saw the cast. I had a nasty feeling something was wrong with her when she was limping out of the store on fire. Mitsune waved her right paw at me and answered back with a smile.

"Don't worry about it. Just a minor fracture. If it was any worse, do you think I would have been able to walk out alive?" Mitsune walked back to Kari and she gave her a pat on the head.

"By the way, how did you explain Mitsune to the hospital staff? In fact, how did you guys even get here, and how did you know which room I was in, even?" Maria asked out all of a sudden. This got everyone's attention. She didn't say anything ever since everyone entered the room, and now they were all shifting in their positions, like it was an embarrassing moment for them.

"Well…" Kari started nervously. "when the paramedics took their time taking care of Mitsune, obviously they started freaking out, after all, she's an animal they never seen before, but they patched her up good; her legs, at least, are the same as most animals', so there were no complications when the doctors took her x-ray."

"What's so bad about that? It sounds like everything went perfectly, and I mean that." I told her honestly. Alex elaborated afterwards, though, with a depressed tone.

"That's not the bad part. The bad part should be obvious: people now know about Pokemon. Everyone that was in the halls now know. I stopped them from taking photos, sure, but they'll still be off to rat to anyone they can. Eventually when they hear what we were just involved in, they'll start to fear Pokemon, and maybe even cause a riot against them. I'll try my best to keep it all hushed, stop them from taking photos, swear the medics into secrecy, but I can only do so much." Alex crossed his arms, visibly disturbed.

"That's ridiculous!" Mitsune shouted out in disbelief, and she turned to face Alex, her annoyance reaching hate. I concur-even though her Pokemon features were very unusual that's no reason to be afraid of her.

_But most people wouldn't care and be scared of her anyways._

"I almost boiled to death in that store! I just saved both John's and Maria's lives, and you're telling me that people are going to hate me for that!?" Her voice reverberated from the walls and her smooth deep voice suddenly turned menacing.

"I hope not. Believe me, I 'm just as anxious as you, but I can't change their opinions on what they think. I can only hope they don't think _too_ badly of you." Alex responded dejectedly. He grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it, crossing his legs and resting his head on his hands.

"It can't possibly be that bad!" Jess shot out in the middle of the hopeless silence. "I mean, come on! Some people even laughed at us when they saw Mitsune, but no one ran away or anything like that! I know it's not good to be laughed at, but at least it's better than her scaring everyone!"

I smiled at her optimism. Alex followed suit and took his hands off his face. "Maybe, maybe. But even if no one fears Pokemon, we need to keep the news low, still. If we attract too much attention, we may get some _unwanted_ ones. And that's when things go downhill. It's the kind of incidents like Mitsune and Maria got into with that Magmortar are the ones that are going to give us a bed rep. I'm in even bigger trouble than you guys; I need, and I absolutely _need_ this spot in the government to cover you guys."

"Why? What's so good about working for the government? Sounds boring to me." Mitsune asked lazily. Obviously, she didn't know everything about our world yet.

"Yes, it's boring, but it's a mandatory job if I want to keep all this hush-hush." Alex said grimly, but still smiling satirically. "Mitsune, if it weren't for me, you would be stuck with that broken leg, and that Onix I told you about weeks ago would probably be rampaging through DulcetDrift right now. In short, I'm the only one who has a connection with the Pokemon, the government, and the general public, so if I lose my position, I'm not getting a second chance_._" He took a sigh and got up from his chair, ready to leave.

"Damn. I'd hate to be you. All that work's gotta put a lot of pressure on you, no?" I inquired, almost randomly. After what he said, it dawned to everyone in the room that Alex was, despite his young looks, an important figure for all of us, and our secrets, and more importantly, our Pokemon, ultimately depended on him. I don't know what made me say that, but I automatically looked down in shame in asking such a direct question.

But surprisingly, he laughed instead, and fanned his hands to show me no harm was done. "Don't worry. Working with kids like you guys make my job all the less arduous. I consider myself lucky to be working with people who cooperate with me." And he walked out of the room, still smiling.

…_cooperate…_ That word lingered in my mind for a while. Suddenly, the image of a man back at the store flashed in my mind.

_Thank you for your cooperation. You can now leave without us hurting you…_

…_I'm just trying to keep the status quo…_

…_Don't think of me as the villain here…_

"No." Before I could stop myself, the word slipped out of my mouth and I felt 5 pairs of eyes on me.

"What? What's 'no'?" Maria asked next to me, hovering over to Mitsune to keep warm, but I was too busy thinking up of an explanation for myself. If I told them what I was thinking of, it would crank the awkwardness level up!

"Oh…! Oh, I'm just…thinking about what Alex said earlier! He told me that he didn't need to kill that Onix, but he said he had to kill him, saying that he wouldn't be able to take care of it. So I'm just thinking that it's not very fair for the Onix, you know, that Mac can stay with him!" I blurted out, almost too fast I'm surprised I didn't stutter, but the others didn't mind, nor did they have any suspicions on my behavior.

"I understand; that Onix's death still got you on your nerves? Don't think about it-what's done is done, and it's not good to brood on things like this." Kari said soothingly, making me calm down from my outburst.

Maria floated over back to me, and landed on the top of my head with a wry smile, making me shiver just the slightest at her touch. "Yeah. Besides, a dog is one thing; a 10-foot rock snake is another."

…

After the incident, a few more weeks past and my life started to turn back to normal. For the first few days out of the hospital, I couldn't use my hands properly, but thanks to the holidays, I didn't have to go to school with bandaged hands. When I came back home, other than mom, nobody else seemed to care too much about what happened to me. Alex told me he gave my family, including my mom, a cover story, telling her that the store had a gas leak and the fire started purely by accident, with me in it. Other than a few "Thank God you're okay." they didn't seem to be worried. Good thing, too, as Alex told me I had to keep this issue a secret, and I was too nervous to tell them what really happened.

In short, everything went better than I expected.

Maria though, had a different take on the situation regarding the fight with the Magmortar.

"Who the hell was that guy?" She pondered out loud one day in January, while I was on my desk, trying to finish my homework with Maria looking over my work. Now that I was back in school, she wanted to know exactly what I was doing and learning there, not that it would serve a big purpose. "I saw his PokeNav on his arm, so he must have been a player, but how the hell did he evolve a baby Magby into that tank of a Magmortar?"

I was smiling at her frustration, but her ranting was slowly getting to me. "He said he raised him specifically for fighting and killing other Pokemon, it's only logical he would evolve quickly."

_But how he evolved a Magmar into a Magmortar is the bigger question. In the game, to get a Magmortar, you need someone to trade you a Magmar with the item Magmarizer, but how and where did he get one, or did he just evolve naturally like Mitsune? She evolved in the middle of that flaming store, and no store sells evolutionary stones here. I should have asked her at the hospital when I had the chance!_

My mind was whirring with questions and my hands froze in place instead of writing down equations. Here I was, with a 2 month-old Pokemon, but I don't even know what to do with her after all that's happened!

"Are you jealous? Of Mac and Mitsune?" I asked out after silence blanketed the room after Maria's constant questioning.

She turned her head to me with an annoyed look. "What! Why would I be jealous of them?"

I smiled at her confusion, but I'm pretty sure she knew what I meant. "Mitsune evolved in that fire, and she got us out of that store because of that. And now, Mac's evolved into a rather badass Mightyena, if I may say. First off, I have no idea how or why Mitsune evolved, and second, Poochyena evolve rather quickly with training, so it's not too surprising Mac's evolved. Simply put, you're the odd one out."

Maria gave a sigh of defeat and looked down. "Okay, fine! Maybe I am, just a little! You said that I need a stone to evolve, but from what I'm seeing, everyone's still evolving, stone or not! It's just so not fair!" She almost screamed out last sentence, but I kept patient.

"I know, you're pissed, but calm down. Just because you evolve doesn't necessarily mean you get stronger. Some of the legendary Pokemon, or 'gods', as Arceus called them, are Pokemon about your size. Don't feel too bad."

"Maybe. But still, I want to get stronger! All I did was run around the entire mall the whole time!" She insisted, and I sighed in exhaustion from trying to get her to relax and finishing my homework. I dropped my pencil down in frustration, wanting to stop the conversation right then.

"Still think you're weak and useless, Maria?" My voice was as serious as I could get it to be without making it unfitting to a smile I had. "If you weren't there, do you think you could have used Confuse Ray to save our butts? Remember how you fought off that Magmortar? Remember what I told you?" She smiled at the memory, and hovered onto my head, looking uncomfortable.

"Yeah. I really should stop thinking like this." She finished off and leaned on my head with eyes closed. Glad that she finally simmered down, I took my right hand and rubbed her pink hair, feeling the short curls through my palm and fingers. I vaguely felt her shake, like a dog shaking when being petted, and took it as a good sign.

_Even if you want to, I wouldn't want you to evolve that badly-you act a lot cuter like this…_

…

Alex's POV

"Are you alright, sir? You seem distracted. Would you still like to see the body?"

I shook myself awake at his words. "Yes. I'm…just a little tired. I don't usually stay up this late. 'Sleep early, wake up early', I always say."

The doctor laughed quietly, his graying hair bouncing slightly, and directed me to the morgue. "Yes. You, despite your high position, you are still young, only about 23, you said? Well, after you inspect the body, you may want to go home." He advised sagely, his thin voice, eerily yet strong, calming me down just the slightest.

"Yes, but right now, I have a job to do, and I won't stop until I find out what happened." I told him, and walked onward with a stronger bounce in my steps, the doctor following behind. After another minute of walking in the freezing basement of the hospital, I found the lime-green door, simply labeled 'MORGUE'.

"This is it? Sorry doctor, but may I please perform the autopsy by myself? I have shown you at the reception that I am fully qualified in my work, and I would not want to get in your way or waste your time." If the doctor found out what my plan was, things could get even more out of hand, and my secret may spill even further.

"I admit, you have the qualifications, but I am still at a wonder at exactly _what_ your line of work is!" he frowned as he said this, his pale bony hands behind his back, and I could see the disapproval in his face.

"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that is classified information. You're just going to have to trust me. Now, if you will give me the key to the room, I can lock up after I have finished and hand it back to you on the way out." I told him confidently and earnestly. At this point, I was trying my hardest to be truthful while still retaining my real job a secret. I couldn't tell him more than this, or risk telling my real identity.

Thankfully, he dug his hand into one of his numerous pockets and pulled out a small bronze key with a tag reading 'Property of DulcetDrift Hospital'. "Okay then. I don't fully trust you, but you do work for the government, and I don't want my taxes getting any higher. I'll wait for you at the entrance, then we can all go home." He handed me the key, making clinking sounds as it was passed between our hands. I grasped the key in my hand and turned the lock for the room.

I nodded in approval, and opened the door to a grey, murky room filled with small cabinets covering the walls, no doubt waiting to hold other bodies waiting inspection. The thin smell of decay and dust instantly poured over me, filling my nostrils with a gut-wrenching stench and my eyes sting and water from the random particles in the air. My face grimaced as I resisted the rot, and made my way over the large room to the main attraction. I ticked off mental notes while reading through a checklist I brought with me, and jotting down bits of information. I frequently switched my gaze from the black barbequed body in front of me to my list, while the scent of black ash still crumbling from the cadaver stuffed my nose, making me groan quietly in slight disgust.

_Pokemon can do frightening things to people when they wanted to._

"And here, we begin the autopsy, and investigation, of Mr. Hal Morris, age 29, Caucasian male, no known family, and the trainer of the Magmortar, which I have in his Pokeball. (Of course, I didn't write _that_ down!)" I recited out loud to no one in particular, and I would safely and secretly dispose the Magmortar after I finished both his and his trainer's inspection. There was not much an amateur like me could write down, at least professionally, as the body was so scorched from that explosion there was not much to notice anything else. My focus, therefore, was more concentrated on what was on his arm: his PokeNav.

_Thank Arceus the cops didn't recover this body when the fire was extinguished. I was able to hide the Magmortar in his ball when most of the fire was put out. He had his ball in his pocket, so I had easy access to it._

Gently, I managed to get the straps on the PokeNav off the corpse's withered wrist, and took a good look at it. I brushed the soot off the still red surface of the device and noticed it was different in ways, like its size. I pressed one of its buttons, the top flipping over and showing me an empty black screen with, surprisingly, no damage other than a few scratches on the surface.

"Strange. This one looks a bit different from the regular model. The model Arceus gave to me is the same as the players, I just made the modifications myself, so why is his different? Did someone rat to an inventor and had him made different models with different capabilities than our own? What would Arceus say to this!?"

"Grrrrah!" In blind rage, I launched the PokeNav across the room, hitting a steel cabinet with a cringing **Ting! **of metals colliding. I couldn't help it; now, the news of the game would spread throughout the world, and everyone would be at a panic. When that's happened, all hopes of achieving my dream would disappear, and I would be left with no other purpose.

"I just want to finish my job and get back home! It was supposed to be an easy job; but now, there's this shit I got to handle!?" I slammed my fists on an empty space on the table where the body laid and closed my eyes.

_I promised Arceus I would keep the game a secret from the public eye, but if I only had more help than just Light!_

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I assure you-this game will not reach the general public for a while."

A voice came from the same spot where the PokeNav landed, echoing through the room, scaring me out of my wits. I collected myself, and ran to the PokeNav, and I saw that it was turned on, with a face in the screen. He had a young pale face, with red hair down to his shoulders, sharp grey eyes looking through the monitor.

"Who in the world are you!" I practically screamed out, both in anger and shock from someone not a trainer and yet knew about the game. I picked up the PokeNav, clutching it in my shivering hands like a bomb about to go off.

The figure chuckled and raised an open hand, telling me to calm down. "Don't worry, Mr…Arlon, was it? No need to be rude. I only know your name, and you respond with such hostility. Simply, I am the one who hired Mr. Morris to help me accomplish my goals. Although I can't say exterminating every Pokemon in this world is a very effective way to achieve my dream."

"What are you up to, whoever you are?" I said, lowering my volume just a bit, now curious to find out who would give a man a Magmortar and let him risk hundreds of lives with that power.

_Is he the one Arceus told me about? This is the guy I was sent for?_

"I only wish for the best for this world, and I will try to bring peace into this world. Personally, I don't think Mr. Morris did a very good job, and I will have to watch out who I give out this great power of Pokemon to next time." He bowed his head and gave what looked like a sigh of disappointment.

"I want to change this world, Mr. Arlon. I've been watching you, and yes, I know about this 'game', and I want to protect the people from Pokemon, just like you, Mr. Arlon. Maybe I should consider hiring _you_next time." He cracked a smile, his eyes looking back to me. "As I have heard you talk right now, you work alone, in secret. I can change that. I can give you information, resources, power. We both have the same goal in mind, so why don't we work together?"

I frowned at this sudden proposition. His voice sounded earnest, desperate, and most prominently, truthful. But I couldn't just trust someone who would let a madman like Morris loose with one of the most powerful fire-types I know. The interaction between Pokemon and people, especially in this world is a crucial and delicate issue, as most people don't take Pokemon seriously. If people met Pokemon in real life so suddenly, then they would easily panic and kill every single one to protect themselves.

And that was not what I had planned.

"The hell I will! I refuse to work with someone who uses violence to get what he wants! Especially a complete stranger like you!" and I squeezed the PokeNav in my hands, trying to crush it in my palm like an empty soda can.

The figure in the screen just sighed again and looked down. "Very well. Looks like it will take more than the words to get your attention. But remember, the offer's always open, if you want to work together anytime soon." The face then turned to the side, and smiled in surprise at whatever he saw. "Well, if you'll excuse me, I want to get to bed. Looks like you won't be listening to whatever I tell you. But before I do, I know your name, but you don't know mine, so it's only fair I tell you mine."

I froze at this reveal. Was he really going to tell me such crucial information? I could just use that and track him down myself! But I had my doubts. Whoever this man was, he must have a very high position in terms of economic power, if he managed to create these PokeNav look-a-likes, and that was all I needed, so I doubt he would come clean with this.

"Gavin. Gavin Nio. That's the name I go by. Not one you might be familiar with, but many others definitely know." And with that, the screen blinked once, twice, and turned dark.

I clenched my teeth and fists in rage. I closed the device shut in my hands, and exhaled sharply in frustration. But I calmed myself, getting ready to turn in my report and I was not going to do that while looking like I was angry-it would attract attention from the doctor. I checked my watch and read 1:33 a.m.

_Damn, it's late. I need to get home, and more importantly, tell Light about this. Hopefully, he didn't find any players disrupting the game, because I'm going to be real busy for the next few months._

_Gavin Nio-obviously a false name. Not the same name Arceus gave me to chase, but maybe this guy's him. Now I just have to find him._

_Soon, this will be all over._

…

**Well, now at least we know who the main villain is! This was a rushed chapter for me, as I have written this whole chapter at night, and I am very tired right now, but at least I finished it just in time for the new year! This whole chapter was slightly awkward for me because of the transition of recovery for the characters. Hopefully I'll be able to write 2 more chapters before school starts again, and have A LOT MORE REVIEWS BY THEN. (HINT, HINT, NUDGE, NUDGE?!****)**

**(Well , so much for my message to you the last chapter…*Sniff, sniff* But thank you, anyways, EliteDog, whoever you are *raises hand into a salute*)**


	17. Nio

Alex's POV

From that point on, I've been spending whatever free time I had researching Gavin Nio. I was perched on my wooden chair, my laptop letting out a flurry of bright lights, with my table literally covered with newspaper articles-I had Light find whatever articles the news had regarding Nio, hell, other weird sightings of Pokemon for that matter. My focus, however, was on the computer.

"Gavin Nio…born and raised in America…42 years old…no known relatives…owner and founder of the Neo-Charity Foundation? Heh, nice cover, is that how he got funding for whatever he has planned…" I leaned back on my chair and stretched my back, giving a groan of satisfaction; my back's been immobile for so long I felt my spine crack a little. I looked out my backyard window, seeing a white scenery of snow giving the grass and shrubs a thick blanket of ice.

"Man, how long have I been here, several hours?" I asked myself while I pulled my sleeve to check my watch-2:25 p.m.

"Damn, it's the beginning of the year, and we already got someone so high in position involved." the Neo-Charity Foundation apparently worked to help children, especially orphanages. He donated large amounts of money to many companies dealing with entertainment, like Sony, Apple, and even Nintendo! He had to donate a lot of money himself before his organization could take off, but when he received fame from all the companies he donated to, people started donating money to the Foundation themselves, making it very big company financially. If people found out someone like him was involved in this game…

_Brrh, I don't even want to think about all the questions popping up. So he's a philanthropist? If he really wanted to help children, he should be donating to UNICEF or something._

"Master Arlon?" I heard Light enter through the front door, and saw Light come in the room. "I apologize, but I have yet to find other articles regarding this…Nio person." And he bowed his jackal head in shame.

"Don't worry, Light. I'm pressured enough as it is, with all this you gave me before." And I gestured towards the newspapers on the table, neatly laid out, yet not a single word has been read from them. "I think my brain would shut down if I had to read any more than it is." I looked outside with longing. Even with its blizzard temperatures, I would rather be outside taking a walk in the cold than being cooped in here. Arceus sent me here a while back, so I've lived here long enough to learn the people's customs and trade. It was very similar to back home. And although this world's children do not do it, I miss my life of traveling around, region to region, and my family.

"Master, please. All this brooding cannot be good for your mental health." Light spoke up, waking me from my thoughts. I turned to him and gave a weak smile, while he proceeded to the kitchen.

"Yeah, you're right. The past is the past, right? But still, I miss those times, and old habits die hard. And stop calling me master, how many times did I tell you?" With that, I shook myself awake and grabbed the nearest newspaper. After a few seconds, Light came back with a mug of cold water and laid it out on an empty spot on the table. All the internet gave me was Nio's background information and an eyesore, but I still had to see if the media thought of him.

"Alex, it does not take an Lucario to see you are stressed." Light walked up behind my chair, and I could feel his stare on my head.

"Don't be ridiculous. I had lunch an hour ago. That's enough to get me through for the day, if necessary." I retorted back, frowning at his doubt towards me, but still keeping my eyes on the paper.

"Yes, but when have these…instant noodles, truly filled your stomach? No offense, Alex, but I just think you are too stressed. You take your work too seriously. Not to mention, you have been in deep thought more than usual." He said grimly, and I saw his paws gripping the chair tighten.

I slapped the newspaper on the table. "Well, excuse me for trying to do my work. But if you have a better idea than trying to save Pokemon, I want to hear it." I growled at him. I stood up from my chair and looked at him dead in the eye

Light hesitated for a moment before a letting out a bold answer, looking back at me. "Take a break. Take a walk, at least."

I kept opening and closing my hands trying to find a rebuttal, but my brain was too tired to think straight. I took a deep sigh before surrendering.

"You're right. I have been working too hard. I just don't want to waste this opportunity. But how did you know I wanted to travel? I never said that." I questioned him. He didn't answer back, but he had a funny look on his face before I realized. "Oh right, Aura. Arceus , why couldn't he give me an Aura Guardian's powers? If he did, I could read people just like you."

"If you did, do you think we would even be here, right now?" I could only smile in recognition while Light walked away. "Now, if you may, I am going to take a break of my own. All morning, I have been fetching newspapers without being noticed by anyone. And if I had, I had to erase their memory. You understand the straining of that." I grinned at the thought of how people would react to seeing a bipedal jackal with spikes out his hands and chest.

"Yeah, you should take a nap. And I should go out for a walk. Nothing wrong with taking a break every now and then, right?" I grabbed my coat from my chair and walked to the door. Light stopped midway in the staircase and looked at me.

"Have you noticed you have been acting very differently ever since you met those players?" Light said suddenly.

"You mean those three kids, John, Kari, and Jess? What about it?" I grabbed the doorknob but waited to hear what Light had to say.

"You have been acting more carefree when conversing with them, especially with John. I could feel your Aura change during our introduction to his family, and you almost never had your smile off your face. Perhaps his…situation in the past reminded you of yourself?" he inquired gently, probably scared of my reaction.

I shrugged my shoulders and smiled at him for his question. "Probably. I sympathize with him the most, and I know what it feels like to be bullied." I opened the door and let the cold air plunge into the house, and I immediately heard Light give a "Brrh!" of cold.

"I'll be out for an hour or two. If you get hungry, remember those instant noodles are always there." I looked at him with an approving smile, which he did not return.

"I am not a child, Alex, and those noodles taste horrible."

…

John's POV

"THANK GOD! THE EXAMS ARE OVER!"

It was a Friday in the middle of January, and I just finished my first semester exams. It was cold, but I didn't care-I never thought I could cram so much information in my life!

"Was it really that hard? All you did was scribble on some sheets of paper." Maria saw all of my exams in class by turning herself invisible. Not only did this add some awkwardness by having a ghost in the class, but also the idea that I could potentially cheat with the certainty I couldn't get caught, but I doubt Maria would have given me the answers that easily anyways, especially if I begged.

"You try cramming a half-year's worth of information in you head!" I shouted at her while we walked out of the school. Could she not understand my future was potentially at stake here?

"Alright, alright, sheesh! Sorry, I won't interrupt your next exams! Not that I did any…" and grinned at my pain and zoomed ahead of me. I didn't bother catching up to her, my brain was too the usual walk home, I dropped off my bag in my room, and I noticed no one was home. I knew that Jason had business to do back at school, but I had no idea where mom and dad were. That was, until I walked into the kitchen and saw their message on the table.

**We went shopping. Be back at around 7. Congratulations on your exams! Hope Maria didn't cause too much trouble!**

_Mom's handiwork, of course._ I smiled at their note. It looked like mom really cares about Maria and me. I put the note back on the table and looked around the house hungrily for some reason. The exams were over, I could relax, and I had the whole house to myself, but I felt like something was wrong. My hands were urging to grab something and my head constantly swivelled, but I had no idea what was wrong. I pulled up a chair and, burying my head in my hands.

_Probably just after-exam stress or something. Either way, I need to let off this steam somehow._

I got up and walked toward the front door. I grabbed my coat I hung on the nearby coat rack and opened the door. I put the coat on to avoid freezing and got my shoes on.

"Where ya going?" I heard Maria behind me, her pink hair in a flurry from the winter wind. She looked at me funny, and when I looked closer, she had an unusual look of disappointment. "Forget something at the school?"

"Nah, I just wanted to take a walk." I responded with a smile, and finished putting on my shoes.

"In winter? It's freezing!" she looked at me with disbelief in her tone.

"I'm bored. And I don't want to spend the day in the house doing nothing." I grabbed the door and closed it behind me. I would have turned around and walked away at this point, but I heard something in the house.

"Wait!" and Maria popped through the door, and looked at me with a rather flushed face. This would have scared me before, but at this point I'm so used to her popping out of walls that I could care less if an actual ghost appeared.

"Can I go with you?" she asked me quickly, but sternly. I frowned at her. She never wanted to be involved in my business, and I never saw her assertive (okay, that was a lie, but she was never_this_assertive!)

"Why? You don't want to stay in the confines of this nice, warm, house?" I questioned back, smiling at this counter. I was right, after all; why would she want to go out in the cold with me, when she could stay here and I could come back in an hour or so. Maria pursed her lips before answering.

"Because…because if you left, then I would be bored, too, and I don't want to be in the house alone!" she spoke out loud, and I could tell she was reluctant to let the last part of her response out. I sighed and leaned on the brick wall beside me. I was too tired to argue with her now; I wanted to be alone for this, but I can't just tell her to stay back.

"Fine. I told you I won't force you to do things, so why are you asking me in the first place?" Without another word, she flew towards me and buried herself in my coat in a space where the zipper wasn't zipped. With her in check, I locked the door and walked out.

"So, where exactly are we going?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "The school. I need to clear my head of some things."

"Ugh, why there? I don't know why you want to go there!" I heard her groan in complaint at my decision, and she wriggled in protest, tickling me a bit.

"I feel safe there, for some reason. Ever since I moved out from my last school, everything improved. No one tried to hurt me, or hell, even talk to me. It's a much better place than my old school." With this explanation, she kept quiet for the rest of the trip, probably thinking about my past life.

I resisted the urge to break the awkward silence between us and continued to walk to the school playgrounds. There, I saw the usual things to expect from a playground: a big slide, monkey bars, and some wooden benches at the side. However, I was concentrated on the swings. I always like the swings. Whenever I wasn't bullied back at my old school, I never had any friends to hang out with, so I would just spend entire recesses playing on the swings. I was never interrupted by anyone and no one told me to get off. After all, they didn't want to get involved with 'the gang's favourite chew toy', did they? Almost every day, I would just swing on the swing set, and then I found out how cliché it was, a loner playing by himself on the swings, but I didn't care-I had Kyle and his gang to keep busy.

I immediately planted myself on it, and swung my legs back and forth, quickly gaining the momentum to get airborne. I smiled at the familiar sensation, and got up even higher into the air.

I noticed, through all my quiet laughter, that something was off my chest-literally.

"So you're just gonna spend the entire day swinging?"

Her voice was distorted, but I could hear Maria, and I immediately stopped my legs, halting me and letting me rest. I looked to my right and I saw her on a separate swing, looking at me with a smile. I grabbed the cold chains of the swing in defiance, but kept my voice.

"Hey, if you don't like spending time with me, you can go home." I responded with a sheepish grin. She looked down again, and this time, chose her words carefully when she talked.

"Nah, it's not that, it just that…I would rather be with you than be in a house alone." She said this surprisingly quietly, contrasting how she talked before. I don't know why she was acting like this, but I felt it was personal business, and decided to leave it alone. I know how I felt when I was depressed-I wanted to be left alone, so I waited patiently until she had nothing more to say.

"You know, I've been thinking, ever since we got back from that hospital…" I was about to interrupt her right then; I didn't want to hear her all depressed like this. I reached out and grabbed Maria's swing's chain, trying to get her to look at me.

"Excuse me, is that your Misdreavus?"

I froze. Maria froze. We just sat there on our swings, petrified at the idea of someone seeing us like this. The voice was deep, but had a soothing quality to it, and it obviously belonged to a male. With this sudden change in atmosphere, I remained motionless.

A few minutes past before we heard something else coming from the man's direction.

"What in the world are they doing, are they deaf?" This one was pompous and high-pitched. This second one, while it did not do the same for Maria, broke me from my state and I slowly turned my head to finally gaze at who these strangers were. There, standing about 10 feet from us was a crimson-haired man about 40 years old, wearing a black coat that reached to his knees and equally black pants. He was about 6 feet and had a muscular face. On the ground next to him was the one who insulted us: a cream-coloured cat Pokemon with a familiar gold coin on his forehead. He had brown hind legs and a long curly brown tail.

This was, of course, a Meowth.

But for once, I was more fascinated with the person in front of me than the Pokemon.

"Hey, you're Mr. Nio, right? You've been popping up in the papers lately! You still run the charity organization, right?"I instantly stood up from my swing and looked at him. The man only laughed at my inquisitive actions and raised a hand to stop me.

"Yes, I am. Don't be so nervous! But if I recall, I asked you a question first, no? Normally, I would introduce myself before asking something, but your Misdreavus caught my eye. Sorry to intrude on your moment."

I instantly flustered at his apology. "Oh! Oh, no! I should be the one saying sorry, I didn't introduce myself! John Evans! And I obviously know who you are, Mr. Nio!" and I awkwardly raised my right hand, open in front of him.

He took the hand with his own large ones and shook it with gusto, and I felt my entire arm going numb. You may be thinking "This guy just runs a charity group, calm down!" But to me, it was very a very fortunate encounter.

"This guy just runs a charity group, calm down!"

And apparently, Maria thought the same, too.

_Why, oh why, does she always interrupt during moments like this?_

"Hey, shush! He saved my ass when I was a kid! I'm sorry; she's like this every time when we meet strangers…" I tried to explain her to him, but he just laughed it off again.

"Ah, you're that kid long ago! I remember you nicely! In that case, don't worry about her! It's always a great pleasure when I get to meet a familiar face as well as player!" He let go of my hand and turned his head to Maria, which she recoiled slightly with the attention on her.

"Wait, Mr. Nio, you're a player too? You're involved in all this?" I asked dumbfounded.

_Why would a man like him be involved in all this?_

"I'm involved in this hectic matter as well, I'm afraid. Did you think you kids were the only ones involved in the game, did you?" and to prove his point, he pulled up his left sleeve to show me a pitch-black PokeNav. "And for the record, I don't want to get myself killed, like you nearly were."

I jerked my head, from Maria with concern to Mr. Nio with shock. "How do you know that?"

He looked down at the snowy ground at his feet before responding. "Well, I saw the accident, it was on TV, and when I heard your name, I couldn't believe it at first." He made his way to the swing I was on and sat down, still looking at the ground disappointedly.

"Wait, you know him?" Maria spoke to me, amazement in her eyes. I half-expected this; what teenager would know some random man who ran a charity organization?

"Yeah, he was the guy who helped my family out when I had to move out from my old house. He's helped us buy our new house here. He's also gave me my first Pokemon game." I blurted out absent-mindedly, reminiscing in the memories with him. He was like a role model to me when I was younger. I thought he was just a friend of my parents back then, but when he gave me the game, he and I became friends somewhat.

"What!" Of course she would be surprised at the fact. Why would a player help out a fellow player; we were supposed to be fighting each other, not getting friendly, after all.

"Yeah, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here. So watch what you say." I managed to warn before Nio questioned her.

"So, Misdreavus, what's your name? The Meowth is Gene, and I'm Gavin Nio." He introduced himself. This sudden approached seemed to take Maria by surprise.

"Um, Maria, nice to meet you…" She muttered. We all laughed at her timidity while I took the swing next to him. I couldn't wait to catch up-it's been years since I met him, so I wanted to know what happened between the times.

"JOHN!"

At that moment, I jumped a foot in the air like popcorn kernel popping. I took a breath to recover and looked to my right and saw Alex in the distance, sprinting over. We all looked in amusement, but when he got closer, I saw his eyes were not on me, but glued to Nio. Something was wrong-I never saw him this excited seeing me-did he find another rogue player?

_Is Nio one of them?_

"NIO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

I looked at Nio with an incredulous look while he was chuckling to himself, head towards the snow-covered ground. Maria and I stared with growing confusion, oblivious to the situation at hand. When Alex made it over, he put his hands to his knees and gasped for breath, obviously drained from running about 30 meters in half-foot of snow.

Nio took this time to cut Alex off of whatever Alex had to say, and give a couple more chuckles. "Heh, what are the odds? Who would think on a simple walk, I would find another player and Mr. Arlon? I should go out more."

"Sorry, what?" I muttered out. _Does he know Alex?_

"Nio, what are you doing with John?" Alex sputtered out after recovering, staring down Nio hard like a predator eyeing its prey.

Nio simply continued to smile and return the look back at him. "I'm just having a friendly talk. We met by pure coincidence." I knew that this conversation was more between Nio and Alex, so Maria and I kept our mouths shut while the adults did the talking.

"Please, Mr. Arlon, let me talk before you have any questions, to save both our times." Nio waved his hand in front of Alex to cut him off. "And in the meantime, I must apologize deeply to Mr. Evans." He looked at me with a sombre look as if someone just died. "I'm sorry, and I do not blame you if you are mad, but I was the one who employed Mr. Morris, the trainer of the Magmortar to track down other trainers."

"What?" I couldn't believe it. He's trying to get me killed all of a sudden? The man who saved me now wants to see me dead? I stood up from my swing, but kept my ground, demanding more information. Living with adults' company more than kids my age led me to have a more patient demeanour, and I wanted explanation, no matter how slow he said it.

"Yes, and I bet you're very angry with me. But please let explain myself. Yes, I hired him for my...own purposes, but I only ordered him to find other players and inform them about me. I wish, like Mr. Arlon, to keep peace with Pokemon, despite their...devastating qualities, but I want more. I want people to understand them and live with them in co-existence. I want to use this chance to bring Pokemon to a brighter light, instead of Mr. Morris's vendetta. He wanted to eliminate Pokemon, thinking that they were monsters, thinking he was doing a good deed by doing so."

"That PokeNav he had...it was bugged. The way you found me out while inspecting his body proves it!" Alex suddenly whispered out.

_That man had a PokeNav? I though he just stole that Magmortar..._

Nio continued, smiling at this realization. "Yes. I, like you, have a knack for modifications, and while I did so, I planted a microphone so that I could trace him and his whereabouts. I found him with a Magmar when I hired him, and he began to train himself while under the guise of helping me. Eventually, he evolved into a Magmortar, and his violent mannerism reflected his trainer's intentions, so I fired him. But this would obviously not stop him, so when I took his PokeNav for modifications as proof of working and staying with me, I planted a bug so that I could trace him."

Alex was stunned, and so was everyone else, but he pressed on. "If you could trace him, why didn't you stop him? He could have killed everyone in the mall!"

Nio gave another sigh before pressing on. "I do not hold a very powerful position, so there is not much I can do to interfere or call for help. Who would follow the orders of a mere charity organizer? I want to keep Pokemon a secret as much as possible, just like you. I have just a few working for me, but unfortunately, they were on another case at the time, fellow players of course."

When he continued, he went with more force, trying to impress. "That's why when I saw you at the morgue, I knew we could help each other out. You supply me with a higher position, and I give you information."

The words stuck to our ears like honey. "So what do you say, you get a good word in, and I get you everything you don't have? I'll let you in on more info when you decide to work, not forme, but with me. We will be keeping our own secrets, of course, so don't worry about your privacy-your business is still yours. The offer is always open."

Everything was quiet then. I knew Nio for quite the time, and I knew from his earnest tone, he was telling the truth. But the question was: does Alex think the same? I felt the pressure; working for a complete stranger was by itself, a very dangerous decision-who knows what could be up?

"Do it."

I spoke out loud, unsure of what I just said. Instantly, everyone's eyes were on me, making my skin burn with embarrassment.

"Are you serious, John? You would have me work with-"

"Yes. It sounds crazy, but I know him. He's a good person, he helped me out when his business was just starting, and he's right. We need all the help we can get. That's my opinion anyways." I finished off before shying myself by looking at the ground.

"If you want, if you don't like the way I do things, you can always defect like Mr. Morris, not that I would know you've been working against me or anything, I don't privy my way into my employees' private affairs." Nio said sheepishly. I heard him leave his swing and I looked to see him extending a hand to Alex. "What do you say, Mr. Arlon?"

Alex hesitated a bit, before, finally stretching his own and shaking the other hand firmly. "Fine. I don't like where this is headed, but if it's the best way to keep Pokemon a secret, that's fine."

Nio laughed gently, his red hair bouncing slightly as he did. He pulled his hand behind his back and bowed his head a little to Alex. "I cannot guarantee that, but I will try my best. And now, John." Nio turned his head to me, making me more nervous every second. His eyes were nice and warm, but the pressure between their verbal fight was still present in me.

"I was lucky to find you, but I doubt this will work smoothly. I mentioned briefly before, I have other players of the game working for me, so why don't you? If you want, I can give out salaries."

I was shocked beyond belief at what was happening-Gavin Nio, giving me a job proposition? "Wha-wha-what are you saying? You want me to work for you? In all this?" This was too much for me to handle. How was I supposed to explain this to my parents? _Hey mom, guess what? Mr. Nio, who helped us out years ago, suddenly came back after all this time and gave me a job! How awesome is that?_

Nio smiled at my reaction, and cut through my stutter like it was butter. "I thought this would be difficult, so if you want, why don't you take me to your house and have me meet your parents? I'm sure they still remember me-I still have their e-mail, after all. I'll explain all this to them."

"Now wait just a minute!" This voice was not from me, Gene, or Alex, but from Maria, and hearing her speak out after all this made my heart skip a beat from fright. "Do you really think his parents are gonna let you hire him? We almost got killed because of that rogue player, and you expect them to say "Okay, we'll let our son get involved in situations that could get him killed in the workplace."?"

While this intrusion sounded insulting, she was right. What rightful parent would let their offspring risk getting killed?

Nio gave a sigh, but smiled. "That's why this is going to be so difficult. All the players I hired so far are legally adults, so it was not too difficult to have their legal consent, but you are different. You're still a minor, and that's going to involve all sorts of complicated parental consent and all that boring stuff." And he chuckled at his joke. "I doubt hiring you would work, but I need every hand I can get right now, and I'm willing to take this chance."

Hearing this bravado, I felt myself tingling with pride. But I still had second thoughts about this.

"If you're going to meet with his parents, I'm going too." Alex suddenly spoke up, making Nio and my head turn around at him in surprise. "Because of me, John almost got killed, and so did two Pokemon. I'm not going to risk having someone I don't know with him, and I'm not going let that incident happen again." He crossed his arms stubbornly, making his point clear that no amount of talking was going to change his decision.

"Of course. I need to talk to you about you new job, as well, so this is the perfect time. Now, John, if you would lead us to your house?" Nio and Alex turned around to me, waiting for me to lead their way.

"Uh, I don't know, my parents are not in the house, and-"

"Don't worry, I'm sure they won't mind a few guests at their house. Besides, they owe me a big favour. All other questions will be answered when we get there!" He chuckled, and he walked in the line of my footsteps.

He was no fool. He cleverly deduced my footprints in the snow, still quite fresh from my walk, would lead him to my house, at least vaguely. His Meowth was walking along behind him, not minding the cold snow against his paws. Alex followed closely behind both of them, growing even more wary of them by the second.

I just stood there, not following behind the men. I was still shocked and frustrated at what just happened.

_Did Alex and I just get a job interview or something? Oh God how in the world am I going to explain__this__to my parents when they get back?_

I felt something bump into my arm, and Maria was leading me towards the three walking away from me. "Come on. I don't like this as much as you do, but they're not gonna wait for us." I could tell she was tired and cranky just like me, and wanted to go home bad.

Nodding, I lazily dragged my feet through the snow, not even bothering to catch up with the group in front, with Maria by my side. But on the good side, I was exhausted, and the exam hype disappeared.

Maria gave a frown towards the men, not liking the situation one bit. "This is bullshit." She murmured quietly beside me.

I nodded in approval, not caring about her language. "Tell me about it."

…

**Finally this chapter's over! Now, I can focus on my homework! God, I got so much piled up over the holidays.**

**Anyways, thank you all, to whoever read this and enjoyed. To any of you who liked this story, I'm sorry, but I will not be writing any new chapters for a few weeks, because I got my first semester exams coming up! I'm sorry, but I got priorities, you know!**

**In regard to my previous message to you and the lack of reviews, I'm quite amazed that if you beg hard enough, it can actually give you more reviews! Maybe I should try it more often…**

**But anyways, thank you all for reading this so far! If you liked this story, please leave a review! I want to see what you think, what other ideas you can suggest, I'm always craving to improve this story, and I need your feedback to do so! Hope I left a good enough chapter for your comments!**

**Honorary mentions (for being so kind to answer my previous plea of more reviews)-**

**-EliteDog**

**-Cyanide Sneasel**

**(edited: January 31, 2013)**


	18. Trust

Maria's POV

_Ugh! Why, oh why, do people always interrupt just when I was getting comfortable with John? What were the odd of both of them showing up?_

_Well, at least I got to see Chris and Helen yelling at both their faces._

"So, you're saying that you're trying to keep this all hushed up too? And you want John to help you with that?" Helen started delicately after the situation has been clarified for both parents.

"Yes. Alex and I will be working together and try to keep these..._incidents_ to a minimal. While their cooperation is minor, John and Maria's help is useful. I have others I have employed to help, and one player will not go unmissed. So, there's my statement, what do you think?" Nio asked back lamely.

_Do you really need to ask?_

"NO! Absolutely not!" Both of them roared in unison, making everyone around the table shrink to their seats. "It's bad enough John's almost died; now you're saying you want him to die just for your cause?" That was pushing it a little too far for me, but John and I kept silent. Alex stared at his hands, but had the slightest of smiles on his face, clearly not caring whether he was being yelled at or not; this just meant Nio's hopes were flushed down the toilet. Nio, meanwhile, sported a disapproving look.

"No, of course not! I want him to be safe just as much as you do! But if we want that, that means Pokemon activity has to be kept low, and I can't do that without players and their Pokemon! If we call the higher-ups about this, I'm willing to bet my entire company that someone would want them all exterminated like Morris did!" Nio kept his voice low, and a hint of begging was there.

"No! You may have gotten out of a tight bind years ago, but if you're asking for our involvement in this chaos, you can count us out!" he bellowed out, slamming his fist onto the table, making all the cups spill at least half their contents onto the polished surface.

"Alright, alright! All you had to say was no." Nio cried out exasperatedly, placing his hands in front of him like they could defend him from Chris's wrath. He gave a sigh of disappointment while he put his mug of soda onto the table and got up from his chair.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done with you!" Chris shouted out with Nio's back to him. Nio continued walking into the hallway without looking back.

_Man, Jason's lucky he's still not here! Chris can really yank on your ear...not that I have any._

"Home, where else? Obviously negotiating with you isn't going to work, so my work's done here. Maybe I'll find some other players to help me. I live close by, so if you want to talk again later, I can tell you my address." He said with hope in his voice, but still not turning his head.

"Right, just get out of here! I don't care if you did help us in the past! If you come near John, or any of us again, you'll pay for it big time!" John and I both stared at Chris for this remark. I don't know if he was being protective or paranoid, but even I knew that Nio was sincere and did care for John a lot. Now Chris was yelling at him to get out of our lives?

The rest of the family didn't dare move from there spots around the table, now that silence enveloped the entire house, save for a few made by Nio and Gene made near the entrance. Helen got up from her chair, but one glare from Chris told all of us conversation was over. Now Alex got up and glided past Chris to leave with Nio, his smirk gone. Beside me, John stood up and grabbed four of the six ceramic mugs on the table, and went to the sink. I just sat there, on the table, speechless at what just happened.

"Are you sure that was the right thing? Telling him no was one thing, but hollering at his face is another." Helen muttered quietly behind Chris. She looked sceptical that Chris was stable enough to engage in talk again, but decided to take the chance.

"Don't worry. Nio's a stubborn guy. He won't stop whatever he does until it's forced to stop. If that wasn't warning enough, I don't care if he's involved with the damned government; he'll get more than just a piece of my mind." He said firmly, right after we all heard the front door close, signalling their leave. He tucked his chair into the table and made his way upstairs to get some rest. Helen followed suite, and while John and I were frozen in our spots, creaking footsteps were heard, which meant we could stop tensing at every noise.

I took a deep breath and hovered my way over to John at the sink, gripping its edge, scared. With the next moment of silence, I shivered at the drop of temperature accompanying the dead atmosphere. I looked at John, who had his head down, staring at the glistening chrome of the sink but not a sound came from him. If he was crying, he sure wasn't showing any signs of it.

"John, you alright?" I started to get worried with the quiet, and I couldn't resist breaking it.

"Huh? Oh, oh yeah...I'm good. Just had a...brain wave there for a moment, I guess." He shook his head awake and went back to the table to get the remaining glasses. "It's just been a while since I saw Mr. Nio again, and I knew my parents would say no to the offer, but I didn't know they would disagree so badly." He shook with quiet laughter at that. "I never knew dad would have the guts to yell at Nio like that, even as a guest. Usually, he's quiet and agrees with most people. The only people I ever saw him yell at was me, Jason, and mom."

"Yeah, you would think he would at least add an 'I'm sorry.' at the end." I flew next to him while he picked up the remaining two cups.

When he did, though, I saw a something white under one of them. Under Nio's. I picked it up and realized it was just a piece of paper folded into a small cube. Curious, I unfolded it quietly, while John was at the sink cleaning the cups. I looked at it and didn't know what it was supposed to say, so I brought it to John.

"John, what's this?"

He dried his hands with a nearby rag and grabbed the sheet. He unfolded it and after scrolling his eyes across it a few times, he formed a smile. "Well, looks like he must really want us to work with him, if he was desperate enough to sneak his address to me like this."

"Wow, really? He must really like you. Wait..." I turned from the note to his face, and saw the smile got bigger. "You're not thinking...that we actually work for him? Are you crazy?" I whispered to him, scared of being overheard; they were upstairs, but we were just 10 meters away from the kitchen to their room.

"What? No, of course not! I just...want to visit him. We didn't have a proper conversation between ourselves the last time, and we _certainly_ didn't have one now. He saved my ass in the past in more ways than one. If my parents won't pay him respect, at least I will. He's close by; I can walk there with you, just not today, to be on the safe side." He waved his hands at my idea, but still had a grin present, and went to work on washing the cups again.

"Well, yeah, fine. You must really like this guy, huh?" I muttered to him after he put the last cup on the rack beside the sink to dry. I smiled at his admiration-I never saw anyone with such a praising look on someone, other than maybe me towards him.

"Of course. He's my hero." And he dried his hands on the rag again, glad that the air of intimidation was gone.

…

Alex's POV

The walk to Nio's house was dull, yet pressure was in the air. It looked normal, just 2 guys walking (except from Gene walking on all fours trying to look like a regular cat), but it was awkward, to say the least. Here I was, just two feet away from me, someone who's actually leading a group to help people with Pokemon, instead of using them for crime or personal gain, just like me. Even though we had the same goal of peace with Pokemon, I couldn't shake the feeling of something off.

"Are you still wary of me?"

I didn't bother turning my head. "Yes. Can you blame me-I met you while investigating a trainer who died because of his own Pokemon, you show yourself in his PokeNav, and now we just got yelled at by some kid's parents because of you."

He didn't look disturbed by the comment, and kept a straight face. "I understand. Trust is something that not even money can buy. I know-when I first started business, no one trusted me, no one believed my idea would work. Do you think I'm telling the truth right now, Mr. Arlon?"

I blinked at this sudden change in tone. Whenever I saw Nio, it was with an aura of joy and ease. Now I thought I could see a hint of something else entirely. "Do I have to answer that question?" I asked back with discomfort, making sure my voice didn't give my emotions away.

Nio didn't change his expressions at all when he answered. "No, I guess not. But I guess that means you don't trust me?" I just looked away, not bothering to answering back.

The walk continued like this for about 10 minutes, and when he spotted his house, Nio pointed. "There. I actually have 2 houses, one here and one in another town called Eglington. Not to boast, but for convenience. I can assure you, this is pure coincidence as well." I gave no visible reaction, but I asked without thinking.

"Eglington? Is that the old town where the Evans used to stay before moving to DulcetDrift?" I wondered out loud.

"Yes. Because of this, I was able to find out about John and his…_situation_ at school, and brought his bullying days to an end. I wasn't sure of what went on when I arrived at the scene, other than seeing a boy covered in blood half my height carrying a pocket knife. Honestly, I was scared when I saw him at first." He gave a sad smile more to himself than me, and we approached the driveway.

_Oh Arceus…that's how John was found? I couldn't think of a better scenario to arrest him right there._ I never thought the atmoshphere would change so abruptly.

"If you were so scared," I started. This was a bad idea, trying to get him to talk something so private, but I had to know. "why did you help him? If I were you, I would have gotten away from there as fast as I could, or at least ignore the whole thing altogether."

Nio gripped the doorknob to his house, but froze right before he could fully turn it. His voice now had not just disappointment, but spite. "Mr. Arlon, do you really think you would want to run away? A child who just fought for his life, his arm bleeding, looking like he could explode with the slightest of touch. Do you think you can run away from that?" He pushed forward and entered his house, letting a warm current of air pass by me.

I was stunned, to say the least. I thought he was just someone trying to make everyone happy, but now everything changed. When I first saw him, I hated him, for using such a respected position as a cover for his own agenda, letting his own employee terrorize a massive crowd. Now I didn't know what to think of him. He meant every word spoken right then.

I walked into the house and saw nothing out of the ordinary. Normal white wall and ceiling, a coat rack at the side, a living room in front. Gene, cold from the walk, darted up to the second floor to warm up, leaving the two of us alone. I approached deeper into the room while Nio lead me, and gasped quietly. A glass shelf the size of a refrigerator, filled from top to bottom with ribbons, crests, plaques, trophies, and any other form of award you could think of was in it. I just stood there, mesmerized by the collection.

But I saw one thing unusual about these-they weren't shiny and glowing like you would imagine them to be, and I could see a layer of dust on each of them, making them look older than they look. The metals were losing their sheen, and I saw stains of other colours on the brass. I couldn't read what they read at all.

"Impressed?" Nio broke me from my train of thought, and I turned to him, with the same sad smile on his face. He had a steaming cup of coffee in his hands, and I was half-tempted to take the mug right from his hands. But I had to focus; I'm tougher than this-I travelled throughout all the regions known to man back in my world, and I wasn't about to lose my temper over a cup of Joe.

"Just a bit." I responded with a warm smile. If I could get him to elaborate, I may be able to find out more about him, and maybe his plans. "Why don't you take care of them? If you did, they might look a bit more pleasing to the visitors."

He didn't answer me. Instead, he walked up to the case, put his coffee down, and took a small plaque out. He swiped his thumb across its dusty label, and even then, I couldn't read what it said. "For outstanding contributions to blah, blah, blah. Tch, all it means is I gave them a lot of cash. All these awards, are from my 'contributions'." He emphasized the word with extreme loathing. "I think it's silly, receiving awards just because you give away lots of money. What a waste."

I was shocked. If I was him, I would never let any of my trophies get that dirty-they were objects of pride, and I would never throw something so valuable away. But Nio didn't give a damn about them. He didn't even see them as trophies; just bits of metal, plastic, and glass.

"So these mean nothing to you? They're just junk you keep for decoration?" I smiled apathetically. Nio gave a chuckle, and I was glad the mood was lightening up fast, so I laughed with him.

"Yeah, they're just eye-candy. All except…" he reached into the shelf and pulled out a red bow with a medal attached to it. "this one. Order of Merit. I got it when I 'saved' John from the bullies, after I bent a few words, of course. He was obviously the victim, but would anyone believe him when he had a knife in hand and stained with blood?"

"I understand completely. And thank you for saving him when you did." I managed to mutter out. I swallowed to keep my emotions in. I couldn't shed a single tear or show the littlest of pain at the thought.

All of a sudden, he put the ribbon back into the shelf, and sat down on the chair, giving a big sigh in the process. But despite this, he still had a small smile. "Something the matter? It's about John, isn't it?"

He read my mind almost perfectly, but I couldn't admit it-it's my most personal memory, something only Light and I know. Instead, my mind switched to me and John's time in the hospital. "Yes. It's strange, but I'm surprised that he would...converse with me so easily. Normally, wouldn't people be wary of a stranger like me?"

Nio laughed gently at my confession. Despite not answering his question fully, it was true-no matter where I went, I always got at least one kid looking at me funny. I laughed with him as I said this.

"Children often see things in things we adults cannot, Alex. Besides he had me to look up to when he was young. I was a complete stranger to him as much as you were. Maybe because you protect players like him like a policeman would? After all, even they are, technically, strangers." I laughed with him as he said this.

"You're right, though." I muttered after calming myself, and planted myself to the chair opposite of his. "Just because you know someone's name and you tell them yours doesn't mean they're no longer strangers."

After our chuckles subsided, I let a few seconds of silence cover us before I pressed on; I needed to know more about him and his plans, and I was getting nowhere fast. Just because I was acting friendly now didn't mean I meant it. All this about his relationship with John's interesting and all, but I need to know more about Nio. "Mr. Nio-

"Please, call me Gavin. And I bet you're wondering "What is his grand plan? His real plan, which no doubt would be horrendous, awful, and all that stuff?"" His voice cut mine like butter, and he seemed satisfied with the ice between us now truly broken. "I have told you over and over, but I meant what I said when I want peace." I just sat there, frozen for a few seconds, and I gave a sigh of defeat.

_Did I press on too early? Damn, and just when he was getting comfortable!_

"But you're not wrong."

I raised my head up and looked at him with glaring eyes, angry at this tease.

_Did he just admit?_

"What do you-

"I mean, yes, I do have something else in my mind." He interrupted me again, and I was balling my hands into fists under the table in frustration. "I have told you so much about myself, and you have yet to tell me anything about yourself. You are involved in this plan of mine, but now I'm having second thoughts. How can I confide in you, when you clearly do not trust me?"

I took a deep breath and fumed out all of my built-up stress. "What would you want me to do? Just how much do you know about me anyways?" I shouted out that last part at him and I rose from my chair, letting it fall behind me with a loud clutter. I have had it with being subtle now-it was now or never, whether I work with him or not. Either I get the truth out of him or I beat it out of him.

A minute of silent recovery passed before Nio stood up himself, and replaced his kind eyes with ones that shone grim determination. "You are Alex Arlon, born and raised in the Pokemon world, here to watch over the game, sent by Arceus himself."

I was beyond angry now-I was infuriated, and slightly panicky. He knew this much about me, and he could have told this to everyone to expose me! And John, oh John, how would he react? I liked John, but it would be horrible for me if he found out about this!

"But please, don't worry. I can assure you; this will be just between us."

I continued to stare at him, and started to laugh with exasperation of the situation. "What you say? You'll keep all this quiet? How are-

"There you go again, ranting about how you don't trust me!" Nio walked around the table, looking just as mad as I was. "Do you really think I'm going to tell you anything if you keep showing doubt towards me like this? I'm trying to help you on your mission, but you remain stuck that everyone lies! Arceus told me you would be wary, but this is almost ridiculous!"

If he was going to throw a punch at me, he would have done it right then, and I would punch him back hard enough to send teeth flying. I didn't need anyone to tell me how to socialize! I was panting with exhaustion and fear now. I didn't know why I was acting like this; I was used to being yelled at when I was younger, so why was I like this now? I took a few more breathers before finally calming down a little, and sat down in my chair again. We remained quiet, until I could think of an explanation for my action without revealing too much more about myself.

"How did you know? You know Arceus?" I asked stupidly.

He didn't change his facial expressions yet, but his voice was lighter. "Come on, man, isn't it obvious? A strange man who just happened to own a Lucario? You are not a player in this game; if what John told me back in the house was true, Light was a Lucario the whole time during the game. There's no way you could have gotten a Riolu to evolve so quickly. As for my relation with Arceus, that's a secret." He went back to his seat and sat down, giving a deep satisfied sigh while looking back at me.

"I...sorry." I started off quietly, slightly ashamed at myself. Right then, I had so many other questions, but I knew I would just get talked off again. He was right-Him and Light was right-I needed to calm down, and take things slowly, or I won't get anywhere with Nio and his plans. "John's just a lot like me, okay? He was bullied in the past, almost killed. So was I." I said quietly.

"Now we're getting somewhere." Nio spoke out lightly, sounding satisfied this relationship was going along smoothly (and I use the word 'relationship' crudely). "Now I understand why you're so protective of him. If you don't feel like elaborating, feel free. I won't pester you to tell me about yourself-that would lead nowhere between us. I'll keep this conversation between us if you will, don't worry."

**TAP-TAP-TAP!**

All of a sudden, I heard knocking behind the front door, making me jump an inch in my seat. Nio, noticing my panic, just laughed out loud and stood up from his chair to get it. I forgot everything in my mind right then to figure out what was going on.

"Haha! Don't worry. Just someone I hired. This is perfect-you get to learn how you'll be working with me. Not too hard, mind you." He marched to the door, with me right behind. Behind the glass paned door was a figure just under my age, and about half a head shorter. He had a short crop of red hair, black eyes, and was well-built, with muscular-looking chops. He wore a thick green coat with blue jeans, and beside his black shoes was a Pokemon. He had an orange coat with black stripes, and a cream coloured muzzle, belly, hair, and fluffy tail. Each of his short feet had two white claws on them.

_Growlithe? Even I never saw one of those in the wild, only in my studies._

"Ah, good, you made it. Come in, and let's get the introductions out of the way. This is Alex, he'll be working with us from now on." Nio started off, and gestured towards me. I looked right into his eyes, ready for this new encounter. Steadily I raised my right hand in front of him.

"Alex Arlon. And don't listen to him; I didn't even sign anything to get working with him." I muttered, and we all gave laughed. Nio just looked at me with eyes telling "There you go, not hard to be social, now, is it?"

The man gave a few more chuckles before introducing himself."Kyle Sullivan, and this here's Gray. Say hello."

The Growlithe gave a woof of agreement before howling a loud, childish "Hello!"

…

**Wow, Nio's just a man of metaphors, isn't he?**

**Well, after a month of inactivity, I'm happy to be back! Sorry if this chapter may not did not live up to your expectations (I know I'm disappointed with this) but hey, that's what a month of non-creative thinking can do! Hopefully, another chapter will solve that problem.**

**Thank you for all the people who read this so far, and especially for those who left a review! I hope to get the next chapter finished by the end of the week (exams are over and I have lots of free time now). Like always, your voice is always necessary, and just like last time, here's the list of readers who left their words heard.**

**-Draconis Kitten Sweetie**

**-EliteDog**

**-solid205**

**-Raziel Beyon**

**-Cyanide Sneasel**


	19. Doubt

John's POV

A few more weeks past and it was the beginning of February. I tried to find a time when both dad and mom were out of the house so I could visit Nio. Sadly, it was more difficult than expected, as they didn't leave the house often on weekends and second semester kept my weekdays busy. I kept the note in my pocket since that day, and I found out where he lived, close enough to walk there.

And now, here I was, in front of Nio's house.

"Well, he's certainly modest about his living here, huh?" Maria asked beside me. She wanted to come with me for the day, since like last time, we were all alone in the house.

"Well, he has a charity organization worth millions, but that doesn't mean he owns millions." I tapped on the door three times, letting the knocks echo through the house before I heard footsteps behind the door. A few more seconds and Nio opened the door with a small smile on his face, along with a striped dress shirt and cargo pants.

"Mr. Nio. Sorry I couldn't visit you sooner!" I gasped out, trying to explain my presence. "I saw the note you gave me, and I thought you wanted me to visit, so…"

"Here you are." He finished me off. I stopped talking and I felt Maria nuzzle my arm, snapping me awake from my stutter. "How long has it been since I snuck in that letter? I would have imagined you forgot about it, but looks like I've been proven wrong. You came at an inconvenient time, sadly. If you came a few hours earlier, you could have seen Alex and his fellow employee." He smiled broadly, causing me to give a quirky one of my own to match. He took a step back and gestured me in. "Care to come in?"

"Yes, please!" Maria and I both replied. My even if winter was almost over, it was still freezing my fingers and toes, and Maria…well, she was basically naked, so she was the first one in the house. I took off my shoes and looked around the building. Pretty average; looks like mine, except a lot cleaner.

"I live alone most of the time, but it's never boring, with my employees popping in and out. What they do, and now what Alex does is not too confusing-just find other players and their Pokemon and bring them to me. In a situation like this, it's best if we stick together, before someone gets into a mess." He walked into the kitchen and got three cups to put on the nearby table, filled with warm tea. In the room, I saw a big shelf filled with trophies of all sorts, and I was slack-jawed at the sight.

"Wow. These are all yours?"

Nio chuckled a bit before responding. "Yes, and Alex acted just like you when he saw these." He sat down and watched me and Maria gawk.

"Please sit down and make yourself comfortable. I get the feeling you came here to more than just greet me, or are you?" it sounded more like a statement than a question, but it was true.

"Yeah, I guess." I muttered out. Maria looked at me funny at this.

"Really? What could you possibly have that you had to meet him?" she inquired. I felt embarrassed by this question with good reason-it involved this entire affair and Nio seemed to know more about the game than Alex.

I put my hand into my pockets before answering with a quiet "It's private." while I took the nearest seat. Maria was ticked off by this, but her temper lessened after a few seconds of huffing.

All of a sudden, I heard the door open, and I turned around to see Alex. Just as a smile formed on my face, so did on his.

"John, hey! What are you doing here? I thought you're parents didn't agree to you working with Gavin." He approached us and got a cup from the sink and filled it with tap water before standing before us.

"Where's Sullivan? I thought he was with you." Nio spoke out.

"He said he would come later. It wasn't job-related, so I didn't bother him about it."

"Wait, Gavin?" I never heard Nio's first name being spoken out loud before, and I was surprised to hear it coming from Alex. He sheepishly scratched his head before responding.

"Yeah, long story. But anyways, what are you doing here?" He brushed me off and asked again. I gripped my hot cup of tea in awkwardness, letting it warm up my cold (and now sweating) hands.

"I'm just here to visit. It's been years since I last saw him, and I just want to talk." I responded quietly. I took a sip from my cup to calm me down, but I could feel myself trembling a bit. Ever since I realized that rogue trainer worked for Nio, he's been on my mind whenever I looked at Maria. I wanted to get this off my chest soon. But how could I do that with Maria and Alex beside me?

Nio looked at me for a few more seconds before abruptly standing up, forcing our eyes on his. He had a serious look on his face, something that usually meant I was in trouble or something happened. "Now if you'll please, Alex, leave us alone for a while. John and I have much catching up to do, and we cannot do so in public eye. And please take Maria, as well. This is just between the two of us."

While Alex was looking at Nio with slightly stunned eyes, Maria was getting angrier by the minute. "Now wait just a sec! Come on, John! Can't I stay with you, please?" I could feel the curiosity and begging in her voice, and I could feel something in my throat, preventing me from answering without hesitating.

"Come on, let's leave them alone." Alex suddenly grabbed her with both arms to prevent resistance, although with a frown. He took her protesting body away, finally leaving us alone.

I took a deep sigh, and downed the rest of the now warm tea in one. I was glad that no one could overhear us, and despite awkwardness creeping up to me, I knew I had to get this off my chest. I saw and heard Alex's feet trample on the stairs to assure myself we were now alone as we could get.

"Mr. Nio-"

"Please, call me Gavin. Alex does, so why don't you? That way, we can be more comfortable." I opened my mouth to object, seeing as he is an elder, he should be treated with respect, but his sudden stern eyes told me otherwise.

"Fine, _Gavin_." I grimaced at using his first name, but I had to get used to it if I wanted to engage in proper conversation. Nio then put his hands together in front of him, looking at me with the most serious look I've ever seen on his face.

Easy to say, his cup of tea was long gone from his consciousness.

"Now then, what is it you want to talk about?"

"Well, ever since I came back from the hospital…"

…

Maria's POV

"Grrh! Hey! Let go!" I wanted to scream, but his combination of his strong arms and fluffy shirt got in my way. Despite my anger, Alex wouldn't let go of me, and kept a firm hold until we arrived in a bedroom. He let go of me, and with my suffocation over, I took deep breathes to calm myself before rounding up on Alex.

"What was that-"

"Hush!" He loudly whispered back to me. I heard the urgency in his voice, and stopped in my tracks.

"Sorry about that, but I had to get us out of there. Now, please stay quiet, and we can get started."

I looked around the room before asking him again, quietly this time. "What was that for? And what do you mean 'get started'?"

He took a few moments to ensure absolute silence was in the room, from looking at the closed white door to the window on the opposite side, before answering. "I know you want to listen in on what John has to say, and frankly, so do I. But if we make a ruckus and disturb them, they'll never tell us what's between them."

I looked at Alex with a questioning look. "What do you care about what John has to say?"

He hesitated for a brief second, and looked flustered. "I meant what Gavin has to say, but the point is, we want to hear on their conversation, and we can't do that if you decide to rant off like the Screeching Pokemon you are."

I was slightly hurt by this, but I didn't care-I am what I am, after all. But something was up; it was in his voice and actions, and I was curious. "Why do you want to hear in on their talk anyways?"

"Why do _you_ want to hear it?" he countered.

It was my turn to freeze up. I tried to think of a good reason other than I want to be next to him. "I just don't feel right with that guy, Nio."

Alex snapped his fingers in agreement. "Exactly my point. I still don't trust him as much as you do, but as friendly as he is, he's holding something back, I just know it!"

While this confirmed my suspicions about him, the whole situation was dubious. "How do you know he'll tell John _anything?_ John's the one talking to Nio, not the other way around."

"He has a weird habit."

Both of us jumped at the foreign voice, and though we were caught in the act (although we have yet to do anything). I looked around, but I saw the door was still closed, and looked at the speaker near the far corner of the bed-a Meowth, dozing off on the bed's white blanket, but he looked like he took an interest at our conversation and popped himself in.

"What are you talking about Gene?" Alex asked nicely all of a sudden, making me flinch in surprise. I would have expected Alex to yell out the question, but he was well-collected. The Meowth Gene just stretched his cream-coloured back and continued to lie on the bed.

"Well, looks like working with Gavin's really rubbed off on ya, huh?" Gene giggled out, giving his brown tail a playful swing.

I looked at Alex and saw him slip his hands into his pockets in frustration. "Yeah, but my patience is running out and my hands are itching to strangle that answer out of you. Gavin's patient, and even with me earnest with him, he doesn't spill anything."

"That's just the way he works. He doesn't tell anything honestly until people's honest to him." Gene replied matter-of-factly. "It's kinda like that saying, "Ask me no questions, and I tell you no lies."."

"I don't see how that quote has to do anything with him. But does that mean if we're honest with him, he'll be honest with us?" I pondered out loud.

"Yep! And Alex learned that the hard way, didn't ya?" while curling into a ball, and trying to ignore Alex's fumes of irritation.

"That's why I never lied when Gavin's with me, so why doesn't he trust me?" He grumbled out in rage.

I looked at him with sarcasm. "Are you kidding? He just doesn't like you, obviously! Other than that, maybe because he knows you're trying to get dirt on him?"

"I know that, but it's like that's the only way to get him to confess! He keeps on rambling about how we should trust each other, and find other with Pokemon so we can minimize damage, and he's right, but he knows that I know that he has something bigger planned!" He groaned out, putting his hands to his head before tossing himself onto the bed next to Gene. Thank God all the sound was contained in the room, so John downstairs won't have anything to worry about.

After a few moments of silence, I let my thoughts out my mouth, stunned at the man's stress. "Wow. Never though you could be so pissed off. Just calm down. We don't want to alert the two downstairs." I floated over to the door and telekinetically opened its knob without making a sound. "Come on." I mouthed out to Alex. But instead of following me, Alex just stared at Gene, suspicious of his lax nature.

"Don't worry 'bout me. I'll keep this shut between us. Besides, I don't think Gavin's gonna care too much about eavesdroppers anyways." Gene muttered before giving a yawn and finally drowsing into sleep. Alex gave a sigh before tiptoeing his way through the doorway, careful not to make a single creak of wood.

"Please don't stray too far from me. I know you can turn invisible, but I want you to stay here, just in case Gavin notices something's up." I heard Alex whisper the most quiet he could. I nodded in agreement, and kept close to the handlebars of the staircase. Luckily, I didn't have to worry about such things as footsteps, and I strained my hearing senses as far as it would go to hear what was going on.

"So you're frightened. As much as you would love to help me, you are afraid that Pokemon will eventually be the death of you." I could barely hear it, but it was clear Nio was talking.

"Yes. I can't help but think that man, Morris, was right in a way. He's right, isn't he? Pokemon are dangerous. Everything he said to us was true, aren't they?"

I froze on spot. I couldn't believe it. John was actually _afraid_of Pokemon? Of the things he loved so much as a kid? I felt my gut drop as those words mercilessly repeated in my head. _Pokemon are dangerous. Pokemon are dangerous. Pokemon are dangerous. Pokemon are Dangerous…_

_POKEMON ARE DANGEROUS._

_I am dangerous…?_

"I wouldn't say that if I were you, John."

I stopped my panicked breathing just in time. My exhales were getting louder every second, and I was afraid it would be heard by the two below.

"Correction: Pokemon _can_ be dangerous, but they are never necessarily dangerous. Look at guns; they're dangerous, but people, policemen use them, and they are far from illegal."

"But…but Pokemon are different! They're sentient! If they wanted to, they could easily kill us all! You know what I mean! That Onix, Magmortar, they were all so dangerous because of it!" his voice rose to a roaring point, and I could feel my pearls, they were turning hot again. _When was the last time I felt this?_ This time, they weren't just hot, they were burning up like a fever, and I didn't feel satisfaction from it, but disturbing, like a stomachache. Logically, the more fear a person generated, the hotter the beads get. But this was ridiculous, and I felt like I was going to throw up from it. I landed on the wooden floor to calm myself, take deep breaths, but the pain was still there, like something was strangling me.

_No way, no way can one person generate this much fear at something!_

"Of course. Why do you think your dad protested so strongly?" Nio spoke out, soft, but solidly. "He's afraid, not just for you, but himself, your mother, your brother, and everyone else. How much more dangerous can it get, a weapon with sentience?"

Silence. I couldn't hear anything at that point. Well, that wasn't true; my head was pounding with what was going on.

"But that's exactly what trainers are for. Tell me, how do you think Pokemon would behave if they never met their trainers at the beginning of the game?"

A few seconds passed before an answer came. "They…they probably grow up to be like wild animals, or something, I guess…"

"Exactly. Not only that, they would treat humans like any other animal-if humans hurt them, they will hurt them back, regardless of the consequences. But you were there with your Pokemon and so were many other players with theirs, and look at how she behaves now. Like a person, not just an animal. Young Pokemon are no different than human children. They learn from their owners what to do, how to act. I'm thinking Morris just decided that he thought Pokemon were too powerful for our own good, that even if Pokemon could be tamed, they would be abused for their power."

"But, isn't that exactly what he did with that Magmortar?" John stuttered out curiosly.

"Yes, actually. But he believed he was doing it for the greater good. That's why he decided to kill Magmortar after he killed off every other Pokemon. In my opinion, it was a very well thought-out plan. With good intentions, too. But not one I would want. I want people to understand and be happy with Pokemon, not fear them or abuse them. I want them to be like trainers like you-understanding, compassionate. Right now, if everyone wants to make it out of this game alive, all they can do is to lay low."

"Yeah. It's always sad when someone has to die, whether it's a good guy or a bad guy, right?"

A minute of silence passed by once again. I was shivering with anticipation of the next words to be spoken. But I was calming down. I couldn't see it, but I knew those words were successful in convincing John.

"Are you scared of this whole thing?" John's voice shook as he asked this.

"Very. If more rogue players appeared I don't think we would be able to handle them. But that's why I made this group; to handle any dangerous matters involving Pokemon. And now with Alex and Light involved, everything should be going along much smoother."

I heard a chair scrape, and footsteps leading to the nearby sink. I figured it was Nio getting another cup and to break the heavy atmosphere.

"Can I ask you something…private, Gavin?"

"Yeah, sure. You have told me enough of your own thoughts, it would not be fair if I do not tell you my own." I guess he was talking so nonchalantly now to get John to open up a bit more-something I need him to do towards me!

"Now I know why Alex's so uncomfortable around you. I don't just feel like it; I know you're hiding something. You got something bigger planned. I just don't know what." I heard a hint of force behind his voice-looks like John got his confidence back.

"And you want to ask me what it is?" Nio chuckled. "Alex asked me the exact same thing. Sadly, as entertaining this whole conversation was, I'm not telling you my plans; that comes later."

A few seconds passed before John resumed talking. "Uhh…no, that wasn't what I was asking about, but…"

For the next few seconds, I couldn't hear anything but footsteps, and what vaguely sounded like whispers.

A roar of laughter broke both me and Alex's still bodies. "Don't worry, I didn't plan all this. But I did enjoy as much as you did." All of a sudden I heard another loud row of guffaws, this time both John and Nio. I looked at Alex, but he had the same look of confusion on his face.

"Maria/Alex! Get down here!"

I was frozen at the mention of my name, and Alex was still as a statue at his. I realized what just happened, and we clumsily made our way down the stairs. I looked around the kitchen table, and saw Nio and John with identical grins stretching out to their ears.

"So, uh…hah, I guess you knew we were listening in, huh?" I started dejectedly, giving a small smile. "Uh…no hard feelings?"

John walked over to me and put me in a headlock (bodylock, in my case?) and gave me a playful thump on my forehead with his index finger.

"Yeah, none at all."

…

John's POV

After a rather lengthy walk back home, I was sitting around the table, finishing my dinner with Maria. But even with the serious mood disappeared from my mind, Maria had to remind me.

"Sorry, but I just want to know. What were you really talking about back at Nio's?"

I sighed and looked down at the table. I didn't know how I was going to say this without lying. She overheard most of what I said, and I could only tell the truth now. "Ever since we got back from the hospital, that Magmortar's trainer, Morris, I've been thinking about what he's been saying, how Pokemon were dangerous and all that stuff. I was confused like hell; I didn't know what to believe. You're my best friend, and now I hear that you can be just as destructive as anyone else can?"

"So basically, you were having doubts about me, and you wanted to see Nio about that…I see what you mean. I understand I'm a strange animal to you and I could kill and all that stuff. But I would never want to do any of that, especially to you!" She ended up almost screaming out her response.

I was stunned. I never knew how much I meant to her. Her sudden voice shook me up so bad I felt chills all over me. "I know. When I first saw you, I thought just that, that you were going to kill me, or some other Pokemon would. I'm just glad, I made it this far. All thanks to you." And I stood up with my now-empty plate and walked to the sink.

"Oh, come on. I didn't do _that _much!" She giggled to herself, before making off upstairs, probably to go to bed; it was 9 o'clock, and we had a pretty tense moment back in the house.

I heard the door close, and my smile got wider. _So, she really thinks that way about me? Wow, never thought of it like that before. Then again, at the beginning the only person she had was me. I was the only one she knew, the closest she had._ I smiled at being so important to someone. My parents rarely paid attention to anything I did, unless it was something bad, so it was nice being an object of affection for someone.

_Just like Nio to me._ My smile unconsciously warped into a frown as I put the plate into the sink.

_Gavin. Gavin Nio. What are you up to?_ I knew that somewhere, wherever he was, Alex was asking himself the same thing. _Just when is 'later' to you to have you tell us what you have in mind?_I walked to the table again, and emptied my pockets of its only possession: his note with his address on it.

_Who are you, really?_ I grabbed a nearby pen next to me on the table and wrote his name in capitalized letters on the other, blank side of the paper: GAVIN NIO.

_Why did I just do that?_ I laughed at my own idiocy, and slammed the pen in my hand down to the table, making a sharp **TAK!** I raised my head, almost surprised at the sound I made, but I felt something snap in my brain in sync with the collision of plastic and wood.

_Wait. Wait just a minute._ I looked at the name a bit more closely, making sure I spelt it right. GAVIN NIO. I read the name over and over again, trying to make sense to what I was doing. There was nothing wrong with it. 'Gavin' was an uncommon name, but it was slightly mainstream.

"_Team Rocket…"_

"What the hell?" I looked around frantically, trying to find who said that. I took a few second to realize my brain was getting the better of me. I took a deep breath to calm myself down. I read the name again, trying to find out what about the name got my attention. "What, you think the name has something to do with some organization from a game?" I wondered out loud. "Alright, fine. I don't know where you're going with this though, brain…"

_Team Rocket, well that's easy enough. Giovanni runs the organization, his son, the second generation's rival, has the fan name 'Silver', so what?_ A picture of a boy in black sporting long red hair popped in my head. I stopped moving right then, shocked at what my subconscious was telling me.

_Right, like Silver would be Nio. Don't bullshit me, brain. But I can't deny, he has this air of confidence, knowledge, and power. Never imagined Silver with that kind of atmosphere._

"_What about Giovanni?"_

_What about him? He's rich, owns a million-dollar company throughout Kanto, disbanded it after losing to a kid in a gym battle…_ I laughed at the memory of me beating him in my first Pokemon game, and the sheer possibility of that happening in real life.

_Rich, owns a big company…_

_Red hair, tough look…_

**CLICK**

It hit me out of nowhere, but now I saw where my subconscious was going with this. I frantically looked around for the pen and paper I used just a minute ago, before I looked down and spotted them, not moved an inch from where I slammed the two to the table. With cold trembling hands, I read the name one more time before I made the connection. I counted the letters, and couldn't believe myself when I wrote an entirely new name right below.

GIOVANNI.

_What the hell? Is this for real?_ I slammed the pen and paper down again, and laughed quietly at the odds of this happening.

"Coincidence?" I asked aloud, but knew no one would answer me.

_I knew something was off about him, but this? I just don't see the connection, though. Could he be related to Team Rocket or something?_I let out a mirthless chuckle before lying my hands to the table to support myself of my chair.

_Wow, can't believe I didn't see that after years. Just who are you, Mr. Nio? Dammit, why didn't I ask that when I had the chance?_

…

**Whew, just barely finished for Sunday! Sorry if you expected it sooner, but coming up with new ideas each chapter's getting harder and harder each time.**

**Anyways, for those who kept reading until now, you know the usual: keep reading, leave your reviews, and tell me your opinions on this story so far!**

**(Thumbs up for anyone who saw that little plot twist at the end! And yes, the name is important. Can you think of any reason for its significance?)**

**-EliteDog**

**-Cyanide Sneasel**

**-Draconis Kitten Sweetie**


	20. Well, This Can't be Good

John's POV

"_You…need to see me about something?"_

I gripped the phone harder as he repeated my statement. Another week has passed and I was ready to talk to Nio again. I wanted to know more about what his plans were, just like Alex. With the Friday over, I had two days to get to meet him. I was wracking my brain to come up with an excuse.

"Well, not exactly. You…mentioned last time that there was another working for you, and with Alex. I'm just curious. I want to see him, or her." I mumbled out.

"_Well…okay, I suppose. You can come tomorrow. He and Alex are supposed to report their findings of trainers to me every Saturday anyways."_

My heart lifted as I heard his approval. "Thank, Mr. Ni-ah, ah…I mean, _Gavin_." I groaned quietly to myself.

_I'm never going to get used to that._

"_12 o'clock. Come by then. Oh, and by the way, can you do something for me?"_

"What? Didn't dad tell you I won't be working?" I meant it as a joke, but I was a bit reluctant to say it. If it meant finding trainers that could potentially kill me, it was definitely out of the question.

"_Oh, no, definitely not. I just want you to have Maria out in the open, not in her Pokeball."_

"Say what now?" I took a breather to process his sentence in my brain. "Why do you want me to do that, exactly?"

"_Don't you remember me telling you what my goal was? To have people understand Pokemon? Well, if you have them out in the open, like your cute Misdreavus, people won't have anything to worry about. I'm also trying this out, getting Gene to walk with me outside when we get the chance, and so far, results were pretty good. Just some stares, and one kid even gave him a pet!"_

I just knew that Nio had a huge grin on the other line. "Nothing to worry about? People are going to be scared, you know!"

"_Not if Maria behaves, and you explain her and yourself. The children will love it, just think about it!"_ He said giddily from the other side. _"We decided, that is, Alex and I, that our next step would be direct contact between Pokemon and non-players. This means public viewing of Pokemon."_

"I know what you mean, Gavin!" I gritted my teeth. "But I spent this whole time trying to keep Maria a secret, and now I need to show her to everyone? You can't be serious-this'll just attract more attention!" I shivered a little at the memory of the Christmas incident.

"_Well, fine then, but, if it's not too much of an inconvenience, please do."_ He replied snidely. Right after that, I heard a beep, and I knew he turned off his phone.

"What…! What, why, how… Grrrrh!" I groaned through my throat out loud. Thankfully, no one heard my miniscule roar, and I turned my own phone off with a click before putting it back into the receiver.

I gripped my black hair and threw myself onto my bed. Hundreds of wild possibilities were swimming my brain. Maria being taken away by police officers, people yelling and pointing at me, who knows what could happen?

All of a sudden, Maria interrupted my thoughts by passing herself through the bed. I let out a small gasp of fear-coming out of walls was one thing, but the bed was new. "Well, you're sure pissed off. Who was that?"

I gave a groan of annoyance before replying. "It was Nio. He said if I could, I should bring you, out in the open."

Maria turned pale (which was quiet the feat, considering her purple complexion). "What! He's crazy! People will just scream and run away and maybe even kill me like that time at the mall! Screw him, just put me in my ball and go!"

I shook my head a little at that statement. "Exactly what I'm thinking. But he has a point. If, just if, people understood you for what you are, we would have a lot easier time in public. Especially you. I know how much you hate being in your Pokeball."

Maria turned her head away, looking like she was offended. "No…! I just mean, if you don't want to be in your Pokeball, or out in the open, it's all up to you!" I muttered out panicked, thinking I did something wrong.

"No…it's not that." Maria said back after a sigh. "I'm just worried about…you know, getting chased down like last time. I don't mind being in the ball, if it's not inconvenient for you or anything…" she said this last part almost like a whisper, and continued to look away.

I smiled, knowing her goodwill toward me, but she had nothing to be nervous about. "Don't worry. The only inconvenience is whether or not people will run and scream like at the school. But I don't care much about that."

"So, I…guess I'll be coming with you, out in the open?" Maria said nervously. I laughed gently at her anxiousness.

"Only if you want to."

…

Maria's POV

_Oh, why oh why did I agree to this?_

_Easy, I like John and I want to make him happy._

_I regret it already!_

We were walking down the road (in my case, flying) to Nio's house right after lunch. It was cold, I admit, but it wasn't enough to get my mind off of what was about to happen. I was so shy towards John yesterday, I knew he saw something was up; he was giving me some looks as he marched. My face was getting hot every time he did, and I quickly looked the other way every time. I mentally knew this would only increase his suspicion towards me, but I couldn't help it. All I could do was steel myself until we got to Nio's house.

_Easier said than done_. As we headed to Nio's, people walking next to us would stop and look at me for a minute or two. A look of pure terror was present in some of them, but not always; far from it, in fact. The daily weather was starting to turn warmer, so more people were talking walks outside like us, and most of them were children. They stopped in their tracks when they spotted the two of us.

"Hey, what's that thing floating next to ya, mister? Balloon?" A brave grade schooler asked us from a group of more children led by their mother, who looked positively horrified (at least enough to freeze her up and stop her from leading the rest of the children away).

John laughed out loud before responding, while I kept quiet to see his response. "No, but nice try, though. Can I ask you something first, though? You ever play Pokemon?"

The boy's face shone with excitement at the name. "Yeah! I got some games back home!"

"Well, then you should be able to recognize her. If you don't, I'll tell you she's a Misdreavus."

"Oh awesome!" the boy proceeded to gawk at me, but I was ready for this; I knew people would be staring me down in curiosity, and if I wanted to give a good impression, I had to behave myself, for him and the other kids. "Are you really? A Pokemon, I mean?"

I lowered myself eye-level to him and cracked a smile. "Yep. 100 percent ghost-type." I spoke back with false pride in my voice. The boy didn't notice any danger from me, and proceeded to pet my pink hair. Personally, I liked the feeling, but his wasn't the same as how John does it. After a few seconds, he retracted his hand and continued to stare at me.

"Wow, I wish I had her instead of ya, mister! Where'd ya get her?" The way he talked about me sounded innocent enough, but I didn't like it one bit. I frowned but kept my mouth shut. If I yelled at him now, he would run away and scare everyone else off. Thankfully, the family was still petrified where they were, but the mother was slowly walking towards us.

I'm guessing John thought the same way about me too. He had a scowl of disapproval and his tone changed dramatically. "Hell if I know. Your mom's waiting for you." He quickly turned around and walked away, and I followed right behind. I could hear the boy trying to run up to us, but the dragging of rubber on cement told me his mother was taking action, accompanied by whispers of chastising.

_Well, can't say that wasn't an interesting encounter. Is that how everyone thinks of me?_

"You okay, Maria?" John asked me out of nowhere. This caught me off-guard, and I ended up stammering at my answer.

"Y-y-yeah, yes I am." It took every amount of energy to keep myself from screaming it out from surprise. He took one last funny look at me before turning to the front again.

"I take it you didn't like the boy too much?"

I was ready for this and managed to keep my voice from shaking this time. "A little. Is that how every stranger's going to be treating me when they see me?" I asked nervously.

He kept his eyes on the road as he softly answered. "Sadly, it seems like it. I'm sorry if you…you know."

His quiet voice surprised me. I thought he would loudly rant about how pissed he was; I saw anger in his eyes when he told the boy off, but it looked like he was more concerned about me than him getting a bad reputation. "Oh, don't worry so much. He doesn't know me like you do." Before I realized, I was snuggling up against the arm of his coat, but John didn't seem to care.

"Well, we're here. Let's see who this 'fellow employee' is." A doorbell rang through my ears, telling me we were at Nio's. Before I could fully register this, the door opened, revealing the home owner.

"Ah, here you are!" He smiled jovially at our presence. "You're right on time. Alex and Kyle just came in five minutes before you." As he said this, I saw a red blur approach us and realized it was a dog with an orange coat and white hair. He gave a woof of laughter and panted slightly.

"Ooh, yay! More guests!" he cried out like a child. John and I both smiled at the dog's energy, and went into the warmth of the house. The dog ran back to the kitchen while we slowly followed Nio's steps.

"That Growlithe, he's the Pokemon of this…Kyle?" John asked quietly next to me.

_Kyle…Kyle?_

"Yes. Gray's a bundle of energy, and just what we need to raise morale sometimes. Come, he and Alex are in the kitchen." Nio continued walking into the room and there was Alex and another man with red hair and black eyes. I saw cups of water laid out on the table in front of each of them. All of a sudden, I noticed my throat was rather dry, and grabbed Alex's and drank its cold contents to cool off. I put the cup down after emptying it of water and gave a sigh.

"Woah, Maria. You look nervous." Alex said surprised, and I instinctively jerked my head in his direction with a weird feeling in my gut.

"Well…yeah, I guess…"

"It's nothing. She's just anxious." John interrupted, and he took a seat opposite of Alex. His smile a minute ago was replaced with the same frown as before. "I did what you told me to, Gavin. I walked over with Maria out of her ball. And all we got were some shifty looks from adults and a kid calling her an object. She's just antsy."

"I get what you mean." The red-haired man spoke up suddenly. "I was told to keep Gray in the open like you. I'm sorry about what happened. I guess the people just don't like ghost-types?" he asked sheepishly.

"Apparently so. I'm guessing you got better results, with a Pokemon looking like a hyperactive dog and all." We all chuckled slightly at that. Even the Growlithe joined in on the laughter.

Nio sat down next to John with 2 cups in hand, one for him and John. He had smile, but his eyes show a bit of disappointment. "I'm sorry if the trip was discomforting. I thought this would be helpful to advertise Pokemon." He took a sip from his cup, giving John a chance to talk back.

"I know, and I want that, too. But it's going to be hard for Maria. She's a ghost; she's _supposed _to scare everyone away." Before he could elaborate further, Nio stood up abruptly and motioned the red-head to stand up as well.

"Before we continue, care to introduce yourself, Kyle? And you, John?" he suggested with his signature smile.

_Kyle, Kyle, where have I heard that name before…?_

"Ah, that's right, I didn't introduce myself!" John chuckled anxiously. He didn't know what to say, so he just stood up from his chair and extended his right arm out with his hand open.

Kyle opened his own large hand with a large grin and shook John's hand with vigor. "Good to meet you, John. Nio didn't tell me much about you other than your first name and Pokemon. My names Kyle Sullivan, you?"

John was busy shaking Kyle's hand and bowing, but he suddenly stopped his hand and his whole body. He just kept his head low and kept both his hands on Kyle's. At this sudden stop of movement, everyone in the room stopped whatever they were doing and looked at the two of them.

I felt it; my pearls were reacting, and growing warmer and warmer by the second. I had to ask John what was wrong before I start burning up like last time. "John…?"

He didn't move. He kept his head down, but I heard his voice from his head directed to the floor. "Excuse me, repeat that again?" It was an innocent question, but it scared me to the core. I looked around and everyone had eyes filled with tension from what was going on.

Kyle just stared confused. "Uhm, Kyle Sullivan, you?" he said, and I felt the tiniest hint of fear in his voice.

John started to laugh. It was quiet, but everyone could hear it, and the combination of his voice and shaking body made my body shake in the cold sarcasm. It gradually got louder, and John raised his head, a smile spread across his face.

"What? You don't know who I am? After all this time and you forgot? I'm hurt." He looked up and stared directly back into Kyle's eyes. John gripped Kyle's hand even harder, and I heard Kyle's recoil, trying to keep his hand from being crushed. John's smile disappeared in a flash and a look of pure loathing pasted itself on his face. "Did you forget these eyes already?" he said in a deadly tone, sending chills throughout my body. Gray laid himself on the floor, his ears drooping.

Only a few seconds passed, but it felt like an hour for me. I was starting to feel suffocated from the atmosphere of the room For once, fear was not the only emotion I felt from John. Kyle stood paralyzed at what was happening, but his eyes burst open with shock and realization as his gaze touched John's black and grey ones.

"Wait…you?" he muttered nervously. The creepy smile reappeared in John.

_Wait. Kyle?_

_No…don't tell me…_

He moved his left hand and gripped his coat's right sleeve; John wanted to make the trip short, so he didn't take it off beforehand.

"Maybe this will help?" he said nonchalantly, and pulled the sleeve back with a flourish and turned his arm over.

Everyone flinched at the sight, like John and I expected. But unlike me, who was absolutely dumbfounded at what was just revealed to all of us, his smile grew wider, all the while retaining his grip on his past enemy.

"Kyle Sullivan, my old school bully. How long has it been since Eglington?"

And before I knew it he sent Kyle flying backwards and dashed to the door.


	21. Repentance

Maria's POV

I didn't move. I couldn't move. I remained hovering on the spot, and slowly descended to the ground unnoticed by everyone in the house. I couldn't believe it.

_That was Kyle? The one right in front of me?_

My mind was reeling with this input and I suddenly felt my skin freezing from sudden cold. All of this information registering into my system all summed up to a sick feeling that made me want to throw up on the floor. Even though I wasn't him, I knew this was how John felt when the reveal hit us. I felt so awful I didn't even notice Alex and Nio walking my way until one of them brushed their leg next to me.

"Don't worry, don't worry! I'm fine!" I heard Kyle laugh out, and I turned to look at him. From John's shove, it looked like he would have flown about 10 feet if he wasn't intercepted by a large refrigerator behind him, but he was still trying to balance himself by leaning against it. "Damn, He's changed over the years that's for sure!" he laughed out.

All of a sudden, I heard glass shattering and made all of us cringe. I looked next to Kyle and saw shards of translucent fragments scattered on the ground. Kyle instantly jumped onto his feet. Luckily, everyone's soles were protected with socks, but everyone tiptoed to avoid any stray shards.

"Damn! Everyone get out of here!" Nio shouted out. All of us (excluding me, who has no feet) jumped around like rabbits, while I looked up and saw what came crashing down: bottles of wine. Thankfully, the one that just broke was an empty one.

After all of them got to a safe area far away enough from the glass, Nio gesture to me. "Maria, I apologize for this inconvenience, but will you clean up the broken glass? There are just far too many and too dangerous to do with our hands."

I just nodded and tried to pick up as much as I could before dumping it into a nearby trash bin. Luckily (well, maybe not so much for the adults) the shards were miniscule, so I could pick up much more pieces in terms of numbers.

Everyone else hopped their way back to the table and planted themselves in their respective chairs.

"Well, it could have gone worse." Kyle muttered with a hint of hope in his tone.

"How can you say that!" Alex asked out in wonder, frowning in disapproval. "You could have cracked your head! Or worse!"

"Too right." Nio agreed next to him, also sporting a pout. "Damn it. I knew he would react like this, but…"

"Like I said, don't worry! I knew he would do something like this. But man, next time, tell my new co-workers their full names next time!" He groaned in annoyance, glaring at Nio.

"Sorry about that, but to clarify, he's not working for me. He's just a child, after all." Nio said worriedly, and buried his face in his hands. "Well, what do you think of John now, Kyle, Alex?"

"He's changed that's for sure." came Alex's response. "I thought he would be traumatized, but I never knew he could snap like that."

"He scared the crap out of me, man." Kyle chuckled out. "I thought he was going to go ape-shit on me and pull out a knife or something."

"No. John's not the kind of boy to harm anyone that extensively. Er, correction, _is no longer_ the boy." Nio spoke out. Everyone sat silently at these words, and it quickly got on my nerves.

_Wait, what am I doing?!_

"Hey wait!" I roared out, making everyone's heads turn to me. "What the hell are we doing here?!" I can't believe these people! "We should be out looking for John! What's wrong with you?!" Everyone continued to gaze at me, and I felt my skin heat up from them.

"Listen, Maria." Nio started sternly. "John's obviously very frustrated and confused at what just happened. He just met the man who could have killed him in the past, and now he's made a complete 180. He obviously doubts Kyle's change in attitude. It would turn out even worse if we went there and tried to reason with Kyle through force."

"No, wait." Alex interrupted, standing up from his chair. "I'll go talk to him. Maria, you're coming too. I'll reason with him." With that, he stomped out the now-clean kitchen and to the front door.

"What is this, Alex?" Kyle asked after him, sounding doubtful. "Do you really think you can convince him? After the hell I put him through?" He ended his speech softly, as if ashamed of what he did to John.

_Well, he should be. No one can deserve going through that kind of hell._

"I doubt it, but I'm the best bet he's got. If he tells his parents about this, they might even decide to relocate again. But it looks to me that he's just running wildly. I need to catch him before he gets into trouble. Maria come on!" he yelled at me, snapping me out of my trance.

"Uh, yeah! …let's go." I murmured, still at a daze at the sudden change in atmosphere. I hovered high into the air and dashed towards the door.

"Man, they just don't give up on that boy, don't they?" I heard Nio ask out loud to no one in particular, amusement mixed within his voice.

…

John's POV

_Why? Why?_

_Why was he here? _

_Did he want to hurt me, kill me again like last time?_

_Yeah…yeah, that sounds right. After all I killed one of his friends, it's only natural he wants to kill me!_

_Why? Why?_

_Why…_

_am I running?_

I stopped in my track, stunning myself with my own question. I stared into the scenery around me, a bunch of brick houses laid out row on row decorated with green coniferous trees. I looked around, and realized I was running on the road. .

_What the hell, oh yeah…Kyle came along, I got scared shitless, and ran off…_

I continued to stare blankly into space, panting because of my who-knows-how-long sprint. When I heard that name out loud, I didn't know what to do but get the hell out of there. My dry breaths were scratching against my throat, but I kept on gasping for air, and started to feel just how exhausted my legs were. I supported myself against my knees and eventually slowed down to get my senses back. Calming down, I looked around to see exactly where I was, and realized I haven't run that far; I was only about 2 blocks away.

_Well, I guess that's a good thing, in a way. But, damn, that was so unexpected, I got carried away. Even if he wanted to hurt right then, there was Maria, Alex and Nio at the scene. He couldn't touch me right then._

"That's it, I'm going back, grabbing Maria, and get back home as fast as I can." I started marching back to Nio's, but something flickered in the corner of my eye, and I turned around to see what it was.

"John! What are you…what are you running from?!"

The distance voice of a female entered my ears, and I was face to face with black eyes behind a pair of black glasses.

"Jess! What are you doing here?" I blurted out, not knowing what to say. I took an involuntary step back to put some distance between us, but she took a step forward to close it, making my face burn.

"I should be asking you that! I saw you running out of a random house and running for your life, what happened in there!" It was more of a command than a question, and I was constantly stepping back, but she kept walking forward with a concerned look, her hands at the sides of her dark coat.

"Oh, oh! Oh that, I, I…just came back from Nio's house!" I muttered, which made her stop, and in return, halted myself.

"Wait, who? Nio?"

"Oh, you don't know! Gavin Nio? The charity organizer?"

"Who?"

"Never mind, then. Anyway, he helped me out from my old school, and right now, he and Alex are working together to keep Pokemon undercover. That about sums up everything in a nutshell." I finished irritably and walked towards Nio's house.

Jess visibly recoiled at my summary; her eyes widened behind her glasses and followed beside me.

"Well then, why were you running?" She asked loudly, her blond hair flying around in the wind. I would have thought it looked hot if I wasn't so tired.

"I would prefer to keep it to myself, but just in case you get pissed off at the reveal like I was, I met my old school bully. He works for Nio." I kept my answers short and simple, but she didn't respond.

"What? You met him? How-why-when-"

"Nio introduced us, I wanted to visit him, and about 5 minutes ago." I answered before she could rant off. I looked at her and looked like she was struggling to get her questions out in order, which was good-the memory of Kyle was coming back and I was balling my fists to keep my frustration in check. "Where's Mac? I told you yesterday you can let him out in public; he looks doggish enough."

A minute of calming down got Jess talking again. "Mac's in his Pokeball in my PokeNav right now; the last time he was out, he ended up scaring a bunch of kids." She said glumly. I kept my face neutral, but I saw what she meant. I was starting to calm down, and slowed my speech to be polite.

"Don't worry about it. Nio told me the same thing too. He says if people saw Pokemon in a positive light, our Pokemon would have an easier time living together here. A kid saw Maria and I thought he was alright, but she got Maria and me mad." I said to her with a wide smile. Jess faced me with a confused look.

"A child pissing you off? I never thought you were the type to get pissed off so easy." She asked me, and I turned my head back to the road.

"That boy saw Maria as a pet. I didn't like that, and neither did she. She can talk, eat, and use moves. I would be scared stiff if I saw a ghost like that." I responded to her, and she stuffed her hands into her pocket, looking worried. "Oh! No, she didn't actually use moves on him, if that's what you mean!" I laughed out.

"Sorry, no it's not that." Her voice was flat and lost all the energy from before. "I just don't like it. Shouldn't it be alright if Pokemon just behave in public? I don't think they would care too much if they're labeled pets, but if people are frightened of Pokemon just because of their appearance, I don't think it would make a difference no matter how much Alex and…uh, Nio, tries to put them in positive light."

I was shocked. I always saw girls as chatterboxes and gossipers, but she's completely different. She reminded me of a younger me, back in my elementary school days. It made my stomach tie knots around itself to remind myself of this past; my current school life is a lot better than before, and it can't be healthy to think so negatively.

"Oh, just shut up and don't talk like that." I groaned out to her, getting a pair of angry eyes on my own. "Don't you like Alex? Don't you want to keep Mac? When did you get so miserable?" I asked with the most encouraging smile I could manage.

Jess hesitated for a moment before raging on me. "Of course I want things to turn out alright! I like Mac and I like Alex, but no matter how you look at it, it's next to impossible to get everyone to fully understand Pokemon! I doubt you'll believe me, but I was scared out of my mind when I saw that message of war, and even more when Mac hatched." Jess said deeply, her voice was almost unnerving, and made my hands treble at her reveal. I kept on walking though, not breaking my stride next to her.

"I…I know. It's scary. But that's why we're doing this. He says we need to fight; that's bullshit." I said forcefully, making her look at me shocked at my profanity. I didn't mean it so seriously, but I kept it up. "Even if Arceus, or God, or whoever the hell tells us we have to fight each other, there's nothing stopping us from not fighting, is there? If I don't have to fight, I won't. I don't want Maria to get hurt, Alex to get hurt, Light to get hurt, Nio to get hurt. I don't want to get involved in this as much as I can."

Jess's mouth was ajar at this. Her eyes looked over me, as if I was a complete stranger, before continuing to pressure me. "But that man you met at Christmas. It's obvious Arceus didn't limit the game to children. What if we meet someone like that again?"

I shuddered at the thought; a chance of getting killed was there every time I let Maria out. "That's why I let her train by herself in the beginning. Remember when we met? I just didn't take it too seriously, and that almost got me killed. If we stick with Alex and Nio, we would have a better chance at making out of this."

"Wait, _we?_"

"Yeah. You're involved in this game too, you know, and I want you to meet Alex." I looked at her, and noticed the slightest of red appearing on her cheeks, but she didn't seem to notice, and looked back to the ground.

"John, listen." She spoke out suddenly, making me blink in surprise. The heavy atmosphere was getting to me, but as long as it wasn't anything pessimistic like so far, I'm good. Her blush was getting more prominent by the second. "You remember what I told you about me? About dad and Nigel?"

"Oh, yeah! You said they separated, and Nigel's your brother right?" I hesitated, not remembering all the details and hoping I got it right.

She laughed a little and my stutter, and stopped walking. "Yeah. Today's their marriage anniversary, and they're getting together for just one day."

I gasped silently at this fact. _Her dad's back? _I smiled at this. "Why? Isn't that good? You get to see your dad again."

"John, I know it sounds like I should be happy, but I'm really not!" she almost shouted at me, and I took an unconscious step back. She leaned her head forward and covered her face with her blonde hair. "I know what you're thinking; they get to see each other again, and I meet Nigel, my brother. I should be ecstatic."

"But why? What's wrong with seeing family again?"

"They saw Mac. I told them about the game. Nigel thought it was awesome, getting to hang out with Pokemon, but dad thought otherwise. He…he says it's too dangerous. _It!_ That's why I'm out here in the first place; to…find a place to leave Mac." She started to crack, and her voice was shaking like mad. I walked in front of her, and I saw water dripping from her face.

Automatically, I wrapped my arms around her, gently rubbing my hands against her back. I could feel her entire body shake, and she continued to cry into her hands. Even though as I did this, I didn't know exactly what to do, or if I was doing it right. I just kept quiet and hoped she would let it out without making too big a scene, even though there was no one around. I put my head next to hers, rubbing my cheeks to her cold hair. I couldn't help it-she just looked so hurt and even though I've never seen a girl weep like this, I wanted to do anything I can.

Besides, seeing her cry was starting to make me feel bad, for some reason.

"Hey, come on." I said to her sternly. "Your dad's only going to be home for one day. Just drop him of and Nio's for the day. You can come pick him up after that."

"I know, I know! That's why I'm so happy to see you at such a time!" She sobbed out, making me blush hard. I couldn't help it with a girl wrapped around my arms other than my mom. "I needed to find Alex as soon as I could, but he didn't tell me his address, and if I release Mac into the wild, he could be hunted down by other players…I don't want him to die…"

"JOHN!"

I jumped at this, and I loosened my grip on Jess. She tore her tear-stained face up and looked around frantically, and quickly wiped away her tears with her coat sleeve. I looked behind me and saw a dark balloon with a man beside him. On the ground next to this was an orange furry dog.

This was Maria, Alex and Gray, of course.

"John! Thank God, we found you! Damn, we've been running around for 5 minutes straight away from Nio's…what's Jess doing here?"

I grimaced at this; she chose a bad time to come by. Jess licked her lips, not sure what to say. I carefully shoved her away. "Jess had a moment. Um, she doesn't want to talk about it." I explained briefly. Jess nodded in agreement.

Alex sighed loudly. "Well, at least nothing happened to you. Gray here managed to find your scent, being a dog and all, and led us hear. Maria helped us too. She tracked you down, sensing your fear from before."

My brain jolted at the thought. The reason why I was out here was returning, and I found myself panting heavily from the memory wracking my brain. "Alright. You found me. Now what?"

"We're taking you back to Nio, of course!" Gray yelped out. I squinted my eyes, and I saw tears near the edges of his blue eyes. "I know you hate Kyle, but please, believe me! He's really sorry about what he did. He told me about what he did to you, and he really means it!"

I immediately felt guilty in the bottom of my gut. He's earnest, that's for sure, and I couldn't stay still with those puppy-dog eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm just…so scared that time, and it was just a…instinctive thing. I'm sorry." I muttered.

"Don't worry. We know you didn't mean that. Kyle doesn't expect an apology anyways. For now, let's just go back to Nio. He'll know what to do next. Jess, why don't you come with us?" At this, she perked up and a tint of red formed on her face.

"Uh, yes, please! Um, one moment please!" she squeaked out, and gripped her sleeve with shaking fingers to her PokeNav. While this was going one, Maria hovered over to me with an angry face.

"John, what's she doing here?" she whispered and her eyes shone with a mixture of annoyance and…_jealousy?_

_Oh great, she saw me hugging Jess, and now she's rounding up on me? _"Maria, please trust me. Jess just wanted to find Alex, and we met on pure chance. I wasn't looking for her or anything!" I whispered back urgently.

She seemed to lighten up and gave a "Hmph" before perching on my head. I looked at Jess release her Mightyena and he looked around confused at the number of people around.

"Jess, what's everyone doing here? Who's that orange dog?"

"Hi, I'm Gray! Nice to meet ya! What Pokemon are you? I'm Gray, a Growlithe!" he grinned widely and walked up to the black wolf, making him flinch a little at the sudden friendliness.

"Uh, Mac, Mightyena. Jess, Alex is here. Does that mean…" he stared at her with hope.

"Maybe, Mac. We'll have to talk it out, but not here. John, let's go to, who was it, Nio? Yeah, let's go there." She gripped my hand with her two, and their soft texture sent shivers through my arm. Maria leaned over and I looked up at her to see that look of envy again.

"Maria, I'll explain as we walk back. Just…bear with it for now. She needs it. We all could use an explanation from each other anyways." I smiled at her, making her crack one of her own.

…

I followed Alex through the door, ready for Nio or Kyle to be in front of me, ready to chastise me for my behavior.

But they weren't there.

Instead, I heard something close to…sobbing?

I turned to Maria and Jess behind me, but they looked fine with dry eyes. I gently tiptoed my way into the hall and into the kitchen. As quiet as I was, I couldn't contain my breath at what I saw-Kyle, burying his face into his hands, with Nio patting his back.

Nio decided to break the ominous silence between us. He slapped Kyle's back with an apathetic smile. "God, Sullivan, look at you! Not only are you bawling your eyes out like a baby, but in front of children! What the hell kind of man are you?"

I found myself smiling and immediately feeling sick afterwards. How could I be taking pleasure at a sick torture such as remorse! Kyle, however, chuckled loudly and wiped his face with his arms.

"I know. I'm so pathetic, both before and now. I cut up a defenseless boy in pure amusement, and now I'm weeping right in front of him. God, there's something wrong with me." He laughed out and turned his head to me, making me jump.

A long silence was covering the whole house. Here I was, face to face with my torturer back in elementary school. He had beat me while I was down, stole my belongings, and maybe even tried to kill me (okay, that last part was not true, but that's what I thought he was going to do, can you blame me?). Maria was staring at me, wondering what I was going to do. Jess and the others looked at either me or Kyle with either pity or hate.

"John, you have something to say?" Nio broke out, and I was brought back to reality. I froze for a few more seconds, before taking a few steps forward, my entire body shivering.

"Kyle, if you want to apologize…" I started off, and I felt everyone's stare on me intensify. "…please do so quickly."

_What the hell kind of delivery was that? _

I knew everyone wanted to laugh at that point, but no one even twitched. I continued to walk forward like a snail. My legs were numb, so instead of walking over quietly like I wanted to, great thumps were produced instead. "You and I both know you don't want to break down on me. And neither do I. I still don't fully believe you're reformed, by the way. But I'll accept any apology you have. If you do something like what you did to me back then…" my fists were trembling again in my recollection, and my right arm started to tingle.

"I'll find you and give you twice the beating you gave him." I felt everyone's head turn to the one behind me: Alex. "Protecting the people from Pokemon is my job, but I'll make an exception for you. I swear I don't care if we work together or not."

My mouth dropped at this statement. The only time I saw him this serious was back home when being assertive towards my dad to keep Maria, but with a threat?

"I see you're dead serious. I know; that's the same look John had when he grabbed the knife from me." Kyle said solemnly, and a small smirk formed. He rubbed his arm to his face one last time. "Alright. I'll try to stay from him as much as I can. That I can promise. John, I know you're hesitant to believe in me. But Gavin here claims that trust must be formed between us, not matter how thin. That's why, instead of a sorry, mind if I show you a secret of mine instead?" He got up from his chair, and displayed his full height.

I instinctively took a step back, while Alex took one forward as a warning to him. "What do you want to show me?" I asked autonomously. With the mixture of confidence from Alex and fear of Kyle in my brain, my emotions were at a standstill.

"You've never saw this on me. Alex, I'm surprised you didn't see it yet. But I need to get this secret off my chest." He took his coat off and hung in on the chair he was sitting on. "Look at my neck."

_What?_

He looked up, and I saw what he meant, and I made a quiet choking sound while everyone just gasped: a thick brown ring of a helix pattern was around his neck, contrasting his light skin. Most people would think it was some weird birthmark. I didn't know what it was at first, but I realized what it was:

A scar from rope.

…

**Whew! This one took a while, mostly because I could never get around actually ****doing it!**** God, I suck! But this was all I could think of for now (well, not exactly, but it's 3:00 a.m. by the time I wrote this-I need some sleep bad!)I feel like I could have done more for this chapter, though, but I'll leave you hanging here for now. So for now, just enjoy this sudden change of allegiance from one of the biggest bastards I could have thought of! Remember to leave your reviews!**

…

**(Anyone see what I did there?)**


	22. I'm Sorry

John's POV

"You…you tried to…" I started, my voice trembling after what felt like a full minute of gawking at his neck. I felt my skin prickle and freeze as goose bumps formed around my arms.

"Yeah, it's just what you think it means." Kyle duly noted. He looked back at us, his scar out of view, at least until the next time he decided to look up. "It was a year after you left Eglington. Our…_event_ was all over the news in the area. Even after you were let go with no charges, that didn't mean I got off easy."

"Psh, you think?" Maria and I both scoffed simultaneously. I turned to her and she quickly placed a look of regret on her face. I felt my stomach cringe in remorse, and decided to keep my mouth shut for the rest of my time here. I bit my lip to keep quiet and nodded at Kyle to continue, who gave a sad smile.

"I was a minor, too, and thankfully, my dad wasn't arrested for my actions. But they did decide to do something about me-therapy." His voice took a sudden turn, and his face grimaced as if he was about to throw up. He grabbed a chair and planted himself before continuing.

"I was a stupid, self-indulgent bastard, I know that, and I suffered for it. The doctor was a big guy, and was known for training cadets in boot camp. I know you're thinking, "Was it really that bad?" It wasn't like any therapy session I ever knew, and not the ones where you sit on a couch and tell the doctor what I felt, none of that trash. This guy, he came to my house, and he didn't just talk oh no, he was lean, mean, and downright _brutal_. He didn't talk and told me his ideas; he just plain beat me, pushed me to the wall, and even stepped on me, all the while berating me. It was hard. It was like that for weeks. I had two sessions a week, but I lost count at how many times I went."

"By God…how did you survive? You were just 9 or 10 when this happened, wasn't it?" Alex muttered under his breath. His black eyes were slits and had a hand cupping his chin.

Kyle licked his lips, nervous, scared to tell the truth."I was used to pain. No one else saw it, no traces of it, but as you could imagine, I was violent. I got into fights ever since first grade. I didn't know why back then, it wasn't like I enjoyed it, but it was like a compulsion. A _need._ I was always looking for a fight. Some sucker to trip over as he walked, or some hair to grab and yank at. My mom said it was a bad habit passed down to me from my dad. Probably that's why she left."

I heard a small gasp behind me, and Jess started to have tears form. She covered her face in her arms, glasses and all, while Mac and Gray below rubbed their fur on her legs, trying to comfort her while the latter had water in his eyes himself. Regardless of who wanted to calm her more, they both had a sad look. I couldn't do anything; I was too immersed in Kyle to soothe her.

"But I was an idiot. I just had to hold my head high in dumb pride and tried not to cry out while that bastard was busy kicking me around."

"How the hell did your father put up with this? You're his son!" Alex spouted out, making me jump. To say he was angry was an understatement-his face was livid.

Kyle gave a mirthless chuckle. "You saw my father, Gavin. The last time I saw him was a year ago, when I left for college. I have no doubt that he's a bloody wreck now. He didn't want the responsibility of raising a psychopathic child. Everything went to hell after the therapies. My dad was, is, and will be nothing to me now. As for the doctor, he was giving out sessions for free trials, and after that, he was giving the sessions at a really cheap price. I think that's the only reason my dad signed me up. Anyways, when the drill sergeant therapist saw nothing was working other making me weep and attack him, he chose a different approach. Twisted my shoulder back, pinned me to the ground, and pulled out his own knife to carve my arm with."

A moment of silence proceeded after that. I can't read minds, but I knew everyone was processing and visualizing the situation in their heads.

Myself included.

…

"_So, Mr. Sullivan, how does it feel to be the one on the receiving end?"_

_My right arm was twisted back, and even the slightest tug felt like it was dislocate with a pop. My tears, more from pain than fear, were dripping across my face and onto the rough rug. The skin on my face was red raw from being punched, and the rug rubbing against it felt like it would tear apart. My body was sore all over from his beatings, and all my energy was gone from his beatings prior. If it weren't for the pain of my shoulders, I would have passed out right on the floor from exhaustion, but his voice kept me up. God, every time, that voice, whether it's loud, quiet, or non-existing, it never failed to strike at my core._

"_D…damn you! Damn!" I could only scream out. My left arm was useless in this position and he had a foot pressing down on my back so I couldn't stand up. I couldn't see his face, only his arms that held mine hostage. "You sick fuck!" The pressure on my back increased, and I felt the piece of steel rub against my skin._

"_Now, now.'May the punishment fit the crime', I say. This is most fitting. I've been toughening you up considerably from day 1. You cried, but kept on fighting. I spat at you, but you kept on fighting. I kicked you to the ground, but you kept on fighting. This is fun for the both of us. We get to share our own opinions with each other, we're making progress." His heavy, booming voice was constant, and I clenched my teeth trying to struggle, to no avail._

"_How did my bastard father sign me up with this shit!" I spat out, tasting a bit of rug in the process._

"_He obviously doesn't care about you. I got the feeling from all of our sessions you hated everyone, including him."_

"_I don't give a damn about him. A long time ago. If I had the chance, I would have run away by now!"_

"_Yet here you are, ready to get carved up. I was just like you when I was a cadet. Always rowdy, always proud, always lonely. And I suffered for it. Consider yourself lucky this is all you get."_

"_Don't fuck with me!" Before I could finish however, I felt the hard rubber of his second boot press down against my head, disabling me from talking further while my back felt like it was going to snap from his weight._

…

"Good God!" I finally breathed out. I took a few gasps of air-my imagination was making my heart race. "What the hell did he do to you?"

"He came close. I was screaming my throat hoarse until…_he_came." Kyle whispered. He stared at the ground with even more intent, like he was memorizing the pattern on the floor.

"Me!" A smooth voice penetrated the air and I flashed around to see Nio with a mischievous smirk, his arms crossed and his teeth were white enough to flash.

"YOU!" Everybody except Kyle roared out at him with pointed fingers, paws, or nothing in Maria's case.

_Wait, wait, wait. What! What-_

"The hell do you mean 'you came'?" I blurted out, quickly retracting my finger of rudeness, but my mouth was still slightly ajar.

Both Nio and Kyle laughed into the air like a pair of drunkards, clapping their hands in amusement and wiping away any tears in their eyes. "Let me tell the story from here, Kyle." He patted his back, and turned to us.

"It was dumb luck, I swear, but I was walking by his house in one of my walks and heard screaming from it. I didn't know it was Kyle, but I knew it was a child." All of a sudden, his eyes lost the laughter it had just a second ago.

"I was in an unusually busy street, so I looked around, seeing if anybody noticed. But no one stirred. They just walked by, doing whatever they were doing. Babies crying, couples arguing, mothers and fathers chastising their children, but no one stopped, not for a second to even consider what the sound was. Me, I just froze, not just from Kyle's shouting, but the silence of everyone else." He stopped for a moment and brought his hand to his chin with a regretful face. "Oh, sorry, got carried away. Anyways…"

….

Nio's POV (the bold print means he's thinking in his flashback)

_**Why? Why?**_

_**Why does no one react to the screams?**_

_**Is the screaming not loud enough? Sure, it's muffled, but there's no doubt its source is a child.**_

_**Am I hallucinating?**_

_My black coat swung from the wind and my long hair was flowing wildly. But now as not the time for such trivial matters like hair in my face. I couldn't move my legs or arms, I could only swing my head from the house of screams to the people phasing by. I couldn't-I was overcome with worry._

_**Excuse me, but do you hear that screaming?**_

_**Pardon, but do you know what that shouting is about?**_

_**Does anyone hear those mangled cries?**_

_**Are you fucked in the head! Can't you hear that! Aren't you going to do something about it!**_

_My lips and throat weren't working. I was still frozen with anxiety. Whoever was making those screams, they had a clear reason to. What if that boy was screaming because someone's making him? What if he's going to do the same to me if I interfere?_

_I looked around one more time, but still not a head turned to the house's general direction._

…_**so, no one's going to help? A poor child in need? Everyone's just going to pretend it's not there?**_

_**Fine then.**_

_In a flash, I started sprinting to the house on the opposite street. With stained bricks and shingles on the driveway, it looked like a serious makeover was necessary. But my focus was on the front door. I ran to the doorknob and pushed as hard as I can, not even thinking if anyone was in there or if the door was locked in the first place._

_But it was; the latter, but not the former. At this point, I walked into the main hallway without realizing I had my shoes, on. But the screaming kept driving me forward. It wasn't long into the graying halls I found my target in a large room with red walls that resembled my office home. He was wearing a grey t-shirt, blue jeans, and a crop of red hair similar to mine. He was obese, but not enough to be called unhealthy-he was still young, and his arms were well-built._

_The boy I expected, but not the man looming over him, keeping him in a shoulder-lock. He had a blonde crew cut, round face, blue eyes and a buff build underneath his sweater and cargo pants. His thick fingers were wrapped around one of the boy's arms, and his right left hand held a switchblade. The man turned around to see me, and his countenance had a mix of horror and surprise._

"_Hey, hey! This isn't what it-"_

_He didn't finish his excuse; my fist already made its way to his jaw._

_His whole body went spiraling, and I thought I could see a broken tooth in the air. I supported my body in exhaustion by leaning against the wall, and eyed the boy still on the ground. There was not a lot of blood on the carpet, but he still curled on the ground, not noticing his assaulter was off of him. The man collided with a large wooden desk, and although I got him through the element of surprise, he quickly recovered, and he grabbed his jaw, trying to rub the pain away._

"_What…what the hell do you think you're doing?" He grunted out, and snarled the rest of his teeth._

_I calmed down a little, and stared at him calmly, but still had a bit of adrenaline in my system. "I could tell you the same!" I yelled back. "I could hear that kid's screaming from across the street! If you're his father, you should know when to let up!" My hands were shaking by my sides in a combination of rage and fear, but I couldn't show it right then._

"_Stay out of this! I'm disciplining this punk, obviously! It's not like he don't deserve it! Didn't you hear about him? He's the kid that tried to cut up that boy in the school!" He screamed back, and a small smile appeared on his when he saw my look of shock._

_I steeled myself to keep myself from stuttering before I talked back. "Yeah, I know him! But you look like you've beat him half to death!"_

_The stranger just laughed and ranted on in his annoying tone. "Don't worry about him. It's just a shock therapy."_

_I turned my head to the boy, and saw he clenched his right arm and shaking like mad. I slowly walked towards him and gently, but forcefully gripped both arms and pried them apart, revealing a small, but bloody cut at the wrist, and a wet line of it was dripping onto the floor._

"_You…you tried to kill him? A boy!"_

_Before he could talk, I dashed across the room and had my fingers wrapped around his neck, his face instantly turning dark purple as his eyes looked like they would pop out the sockets. He tried to scream and clawed at my hands for release, but only gurgles in his throat was all I heard, and he was panicking too much to react properly._

_**That's it, just stay still, and let me give you the same thing!**_

_His eyes started to roll back, and I knew he was about to go unconscious. A thin trail of saliva was dripping down his jaw, and I could feel his Adam's apple struggle to break free from my hands. A mad grin was forming on my face-__**this bastard was getting what he deserves!**_

"_PLEASE STOP! STOP!"_

_I blinked as I heard the voice. It was loud, but it felt so faint to me in my hyped state. I managed to crane my head far back enough to see the boy. His red hair was in a mess, and tears were pouring down his eyes like a waterfall. He was sniffling constantly to keep his face clear from mucus which failed miserably. His arm was stained with crusts of blood, and he had his left hand covering the cut. He stared at me with a look of pleading, which was greatly effective in combination with his face._

"_You…to someone like him!" I roared out in broken sentences like a child. I knew that a kid would want to pay back a perpetrator more than necessary, but why was the boy not angry like he should be?_

"_Yes, please! I know it looked like he was killing me, but he wasn't, I swear!" His face was scrounging up like a squeezed sponge and wiped his face with his arm. "Besides, I know damn well I deserve it. I could have killed that kid, and he was right to pay me back through my friend back there!" _

_Before I could get off the man, the boy gave a cry before sprinting out of the room.._

…

John's POV

"I was frozen, I didn't what to do, but I thought in a few days rest, he would be alright. I made sure the therapist would not work again for a long time, of course." Nio finished satisfied. But still, his mouth was in a scowl cemented in place, and eyes that did not match his tone at all.

"So you just _left_him?" Maria whispered out, her voice muffled by trying to clean her wet face by rubbing against my coat sleeve.

"I know I know, it was cold of me to leave a crying 9-year old alone in the house, but that man was right; I had no business here, and I knew Kyle would be responsible enough to look after himself for a while, until his father got back." Nio brushed her off, looking at Kyle to give him the cue to continue.

"Yeah, and not a moment too soon, I found a rope, and a perfect place to hang myself." A deep gasp emanated from my throat, and I felt my eyes tingle with tears digging their way out. I had to bite my lip to keep it from pouring out. Hell, if I was pushed so hard, I would have wanted to kill myself too.

"And, damn, was I lucky I was frozen on spot. Right after I took my first step out the door, I heard straining of wood. And lo and behold, the kid had a rope tied around his neck." I didn't know if he was happy to see Kyle safe or disappointed at the pain he went through.

"I was petrified. I truly didn't know what to do at that point. I just stood there, staring at it like a sick work of art. Luckily before he choked to death, the rope snapped and I snapped back into reality to tear the ropes with my fingers." To demonstrate, Nio pulled back his sleeves and showed us his nails-I couldn't see any errors in them due to time healing them, but I could see vague scars around the nail bed and the rough fingertips like a guitar player's.

"Dear God, they were torn off?" I asked, biting my lips again. A vivid flash of red-stained rope and scarlet fingers stunned my brain, and I had to quickly blink it away.

"Close, but not all of them, gladly. But Kyle's scar. He was, as you remember, was rather fat, and the rope was pretty prickly as well. I don't think those scars will ever go away." At the mention of scars, Kyle automatically rubbed his neck with his hand, chuckling a bit.

"John. You of all people shouldn't pity me. I fully deserved it at the time. And now, I like to think of it as something to be proud of. A proof of my brush with death." He smiled to show his honesty, but I didn't take it. It wasn't like I believed him; I wanted to believe it more than anything since the appearance of Pokemon, but pure, undiluted guilt was growing in my chest.

"How can you say that! You almost killed me, so some random dude almost kills you, and you think he was justified!" I demanded, not bothering to control my voice.

"Correction, you _thought_ I was going to kill you. And that 'dude' wasn't going to either. You and Gavin reacted the same way, now that I think about it." Kyle made a face and looked like he was tired of the reminiscing. His words stunned me. He was right, aside from a few details.

"Well, except for me-I actually killed an innocent helper of yours."

"Nah, he wasn't so innocent. He was just as much a punk as I was. He was the one who suggested I cut you in the first place. Why are we talking about this? We clarified the situation for you, you should be happy!" Kyle was getting more and more annoyed by the minute.

I couldn't digest this much info at once. I hated him with all my heart when I was a grade schooler, and now he expects me to see him in the right?

"Fine, I should be. But I still don't know what to think about this whole situation." I wrapped my right wrist with my left hand and squeezed it to relieve some of the stress. "You're supposed to be reformed, right? Okay then."

"So, what? Are we starting over, or what?" He said sarcastically. I smiled at his friendliness, probably for the first time since I met him, and pressed my temples.

"Yeah, I guess so, but I don't want this to get mushy or anything, please. Just your age, and what you do nowadays would be a good start." I said, crossing my arms and trying to look directly in his eyes. I failed miserably, and only managed at his forehead.

"Right now, I'm 18 turning 19 this year, and I'm attending Prince University up north." Kyle said blandly. He gripped his chair, looking ready to leave. "You should be around 16 or 17 years old, and no doubt you attend Dulcetdrift High School nearby. I should be at the university right now, but I believe this matter of Pokemon is more important for the time being. Gavin wants me to see any others with Pokemon near my area. That is, if they're willing to show me theirs, and that can only happen if I show them Gray." The Growlithe gave a small yelp and jumped up to Kyle's lap. He gently petted him, stroking his orange fur which generated a small purr from the dog Pokemon.

"I don't want to fight. I don't want to get hurt. Hell, I don't want anyone to get hurt. I just want everyone to get out of this alive." He stood up, picking Gray into his chest. He walked past the mob behind me and didn't look back. His movements, however, looked deliberately slow, as if he was waiting for one of us to stop him.

_So, is this really how he is right now? Was everything he said true, and not just because Alex or Nio was here?_

"I don't want anyone to get hurt either."

I turned around to the group, but none of them said it. I blinked a few times, but realized the source of voice was now behind me, and I saw Maria hovering in front of Kyle. She looked scared, like the man in front of him would yell at him, but everyone remained silent. I walked up behind her, but didn't do anything else to interrupt her; dad always told me women didn't like to be interrupted when speaking, and I didn't want to piss her off in the middle of a speech.

"I don't want to fight, not since that time at the mall. I nearly got killed, and so did John and others. He thinks exactly the same way you do. I don't want to fight, but I know I'll have to someday or later. So I will. Not just for me, but for others' sakes. It doesn't matter if anyone wants us to fight each other, but if it means saving lives and saving John, I'll gladly do it. That's what Pokemon are for, or in my opinion at least. And so should you. You know that, right, Gray?"

Kyle blinked in surprised while the dog stirred at what words were being spoken and produced a "Huh?" at what just happened. He, just like the rest of was, thought the words of wisdom were being directed at Kyle, but it looked like she changed course just in time to make it sound believable.

Gray just giggled quietly and snuggled himself deeper into Kyle. "Yeah, I know." He craned his head up to Kyle's face looking down at him. "Watch out for her, Kyle. She's not going to let us go easy if we hurt a hair on her little _boyfriend_."

"Wha-what, what the hell are you talking about!" She continued to look directly at him, but I knew she was blushing again. I grabbed a nearby chair and planted myself on it, but felt my cheeks burn up as well. I didn't know what was going on with me, but I distracted myself by joining in on the sudden uproar of laughter from everyone.

"You, you… but…very funny!" She shouted out over the laughter, and she looked like she was going to use a move on Gray. How I knew? Gray's eyes turned feral in an instant and Kyle stopped laughing.

Of course, she didn't have time to launch said attack. I got up and grabbed her by the hair. "Enough. We've been here long enough, and I don't want an already unstable trust broken because of you." I pulled her into my jacket to keep her still.

"Jess, you know what to do now?" I asked her behind me. It took a while before she realized what I was talking about. She seemed to have blanked out at the sudden change in Kyle and Gray.

"Oh, oh yeah! Uh, thanks!" She stammered her thanks and turned to Alex for her request. None of which I got to see, unfortunately, because I was too busy getting out of the house.

…

"Mind telling me what that was about?" I muttered at Maria in my arms while I entered my house. She looked troubled to say whatever was on her mind.

"Well, he just called you my…you know!" was all she said to me. I laughed at her and jumped into my house, and let go of Maria. She didn't look my way, and instead just flew into the air and phased her way through the ceiling, probably to her room.

"Come on, it's not that bad! It's not like he meant it!" I screamed after her (thankfully, no one was home at the time. Am I lucky or what!), but she didn't hear me. I chuckled to myself at her embarrassment, but I couldn't shake the memory of my face burning when Gray said boyfriend.

_Why did my face burn like that? Was it because of Gray's teasing? I was always teased and called names when I was a kid, so it's nothing unusual. But why like that? _

I looked at the clock, and saw it read 4:20.

_Damn, better get going on my homework. If Jason doesn't see me finish, he's going to lecture me again about how important going to university is and all that._

I walked into the living room where I left my school bag, and a picture of Kyle sitting next to a desk with a tower of books came to mind. He was busy pulling out his hair in frustration for his entrance exam, and eraser marks were all over the desk. Easy to say, I couldn't help but feel slightly proud of him.

_Damn, man. How did__ you __ever make it to a university like Prince? I might ask him when I get the chance._

…

**There, my next chapter is up! Man, I feel like I'm leaving this alone more and more. I really should stop procrastinating, and get things done when I get started.**

**On a separate note, I'm really thinking about changing the name of this story. I wanted the title to be eye-catching and remind the reader of the certain novel from H.G. Wells, but I feel like the story is featuring more along the characters instead of the main conflict going on. I also feel like I'm not putting in enough violence to categorize it into 'Action/adventure'. Maybe I should change the genre to 'Drama' instead as well. Hmm…who knows?**

**Speaking of characters, this chapter was, in case you didn't realize, just to feature Kyle and Nio's minds at work now. I based off the university Kyle goes to on King's University and Queen's University. Not very original, I know, but I was too lazy to come up with something creative like DulcetDrift (now that I think about it, the name itself sounds lame as hell!)**

**So remember to keep reading and**_**pleeease**_**wait patiently for the next chapter! I don't know when I'm going to get it started, so don't get mad!**


	23. A Strange Encounter

Maria's POV

It was late, probably midnight when everyone in the house decided to turn in (I didn't know; there wasn't a clock in the attic.) But even with the chilling silence over the whole house, I couldn't sleep. I opened my eyes after unsuccessfully trying to relax, and saw the faintest bit of light coming from the window, illuminating the dust particles in the air. God, how could I ever have managed to sleep in this musty atmosphere? How could I when I had so many ideas to think about. The game was almost half-way over, March has begun, and I just met the one who made John's childhood miserable. When I first heard of Kyle, I thought he would be some punk or gangsters that one would see in the movies, but he was completely different now. He looked nice, had manners, and Nio seemed to think the same. I trust John, but he's completely different (guess that's what almost a decade can do to a child) than how John described him.

_I trust John, and how Kyle treated him. But all that's in the past. He needs to move away from the then and into the now. But regardless, I trust John until the end._

As I finished the mental note, the thought came crawling back to me.

…_her little boyfriend…_

"Grrgh…!" I could only muster out of my mouth as I remembered that dog's high voice replayed itself. What does he know about me and John, anyways!

_We're just friends. Yeah, just really good friends…_ Once again, just like when Gray said the word 'boyfriend', my stomach flipped inside me but I didn't feel like throwing up. I started to get hot in my face and I shivered at this sudden change.

_What the hell is wrong with me today? I've been getting like this every time someone talks about what's between me and John. There's nothing 'between' us, alright?_And again, there was that sensation again, and I shook my head to clear my mind of anything involving me or John.

_That's it, I have got to ask anyone other than John about this! It's gotten in the way for too long now! But who can I ask without raising too much suspicion?_

_Kari? Possibly…from our last encounter, it looked like she was having fun with John at the mall. God, I still remember that feeling in me that made me want to throw up! But, they looked like they were enjoying each other. Maybe not such a good idea._

_Alex? Who knows? I don't know him personally, and he still looks shady, despite his friendliness to John. He's young, and it's likely he's in a relationship with someone, but still, I don't like the idea all that much. I should probably ask him about this when I get the chance._

_Helen? No way. She's a gossip and no doubt she's going to tell everyone in the house about this at dinner._

_Jess?_

"…"

_Yeah, she seems like the best bet. After all, I just saw her cuddling in John's arms a few days ago, John likes her company. Oh why, couldn't I be in those arms instead of her! But…then again, she was crying, wasn't she? John said she needed some calming down, and she looked down a lot, too. Man, I don't know what she was up with, but if it made John help her like that, I want to know._

I turned around in my blankets, until removing them completely from covering me. The spring season was almost here and I was starting to sweat under the blanket already. _Alright then. It's settled: I'll be visiting Jess, and if I have the time, maybe even Kari._ I hovered off the blanket and looked around the room in triumph, feeling the warm air gently pass over my skin, making me even hotter than I would have wanted. I was definitely sweating by this point, and quickly landed on the soft sheets to try to relax myself.

Another breeze passed by, this one cooling me instead of heating my body, and I smiled at the gentle sensation. _Just what I needed…_

…

"MARIA! MARIA! WAKE UP!**"**

I forced my eyes open so fast my eyelids would have torn off at my wake.

_What the hell, John? I was trying to get some…sleep?_

Hell was right. It didn't look it, but it felt like hell. It was still dark, but I could feel thick waves of blistering heat go through me. My skin was sweltering and I could hardly breathe.

_What's going on? Why's it so hot?_ _John, what's going on!_

I opened the attic door, and that was a _very_ bad idea, as roars of fire suddenly popped out from the rectangular hole and light up the attic. The flames licked the roof and I was blinded from the abrupt appearance of red and yellow. Not to mention, the temperature of the room increased significantly now that that fire was here.

_Shit! Damn, so I can't go through the hole? Fine!_ I phased through the floor instead, and could not believe my eyes. The whole room, the bed, books, the desk, even the ceiling, was on fire. Thankfully, I was intangible at the time, so the flames couldn't touch and burn me. However, I could still feel the heat and I was chocking from the room filled with ash and carbon monoxide.

_You've got to be kidding me! I need to get out of here!_

"MARIA! GET OUT OF THERE!"

_John! Where the hell…_My own question was answered for me, however, as the charred bedroom door toppled over and crumbled into ash, and behind it stood John, looking like he went through…well, hell. His black hair was in clumps because they melted and glued themselves together, something that didn't happen to me, luckily. His clothes looked 20 years older, with holes everywhere and burn marks covering it, especially his legs. His grey and black eyes showed what could only be defined as primal, as even though I was right in front of him, his whole head was darting everywhere to rapidly observe the details of his former bedroom.

"Maria, come on! We've got to get out of here!" he screamed right in my face. I would have froze on spot if I was in a normal situation, because this was the first time John's yelled at me like that. But I was not in a normal situation. The whole house was coming down and I needed to get out fast! I wasted no time talking and simply flew out the room at top speed with John leading.

While running away from the fire, I looked around the house, hoping at least something wouldn't be covered in red and yellow. But everything was, even the floor. I looked at his feet and saw that he was barefoot.

_God, is he actually running on a floor set ablaze? This isn't his first time with fire, but how and where does he get this endurance! Besides, the fire at the mall was nothing like this! And how was he even breathing in this condition?_

I didn't use up too much time thinking, however, as I was too busy looking for the exit with the least amount of fire. I was lucky; I wasn't getting my hair burnt into clumps, but John was, and his feet were killing him! I doubted he could ever walk on those again if we ever made it out of here. When we arrived at what looked like the middle of the house, he stopped and turned his head in every direction to find the path with least resistance, all the while hopping from one foot to the other.

"Dammit! Maria, the front!" Despite the vague answer, I knew what he meant and darted to the front door as fast as I could, this time with John following me. At this point, my eyes were turning sore from the brightness and heat and no doubt my eyes were red from the irritating fire. I couldn't even see in front of my face clearly and I was slowing down from fatigue. I also couldn't breathe at all from the smoke and my lungs (if I had any) felt like they were turning into raisins, leaving a queasy feeling that made me want to throw up. The crackling fire surrounding me also made me deaf to everything else and I couldn't even hear myself yell out to John to follow me.

After a few more agonizing seconds, I phased through the front door and a wall of cold refreshing air collided with my face, making my mouth instantly dry so that I felt like I couldn't swallow anything anymore. Although I still couldn't see, the freezing temperature and lack of light burning through my eyelids was an efficient clue to tell me it was still night time. I kept my eyes closed to help it recover and leaned against the house's wall and cement ground, its cold bricks rejuvenating my blistering flesh.

"Well, well. Looks like we have a survivor. You are one lucky ghost. But then, what's the idea of a ghost-type like you dying again."

I froze as I recognized the laughing voice above me, loud and clear over the fire behind me. I slowly opened my eyes and blinked a few more times before I got even a slightly clear vision. I craned up to see 3 figures. 2 of them human shaped with red hair, while the other below them was a 4-legged small animal.

I didn't bother talking to them. My throat was damaged enough and it felt like it would tear from just breathing.

"Well, then, looks like we have just another loose end. Right, Kyle? Gray?" The man's mouth formed a blurred grin that showed off his teeth, giving off one hell of a slasher smile.

I blinked once more and saw the figures come into focus. Nio…Gray…_Kyle._

He just looked down with eyes filled with pity. He didn't look happy about the situation, but he didn't look sad, either. He put his hands inside his pockets before kicking the ground in agitation, like a scientist being disturbed in the middle of a breakthrough. "Damn, and I was hoping I wouldn't have to do this. Gray." The red canine next to him stepped forward and opened his mouth in front of me, ready to barf out whatever kind of fire-type move you could think of.

_Damn, damn it! Is this how I'm going to die!_

_John…I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect you after all._

…

"Wait, wait! Don't, Gray! I see her certain special someone who would rather keep her to himself instead. Fine by me, they're both going to die anyways."

Nio's voice ringed into my non-existent ears and I looked up at him.

_John…John! Shit, he's still in the house isn't he! I should have…_ Instead of panic, however, Nio had a surprised look on his face, and was staring at something behind me. Both Kyle and Gray also looked the same direction with gaping mouths. I heard footsteps behind me, and turned around to see exactly what they were staring at.

Instantly, I regretted my decision.

John... no, John would never look like the monster in front of me. He, no it, looked like a black-skinned monster of some sort. Another second and I realized that was not skin, but it rather looked like crusts, like the bark of a tree, and I could see blood-red flesh pulsating from cracks in the shell. The face however was what scared the crap out of me. The head had no hair, its eyes looked like a bottomless hole, like a pair of eyes that would follow you no matter how far you ran. But the most obvious feature was the mouth, where I saw bits of flesh and blood leaking from torn cheeks and skeletal jaw.

"Kudos, John. You would go through the fires of hell itself, I bet, to have Maria safe and sound." I heard Nio behind me, and clapping right after. "Well, our works is done here. You can have her back."

I wanted to turn around and launch him and everyone else across the whole neighbourhood with Confusion right then. But I couldn't tear my eyes away from the figure stepping forward to me. The fear, anxiety, hopelessness, this storm of emotions inside made me want to explode into nothingness. I didn't even notice the tears falling down my face.

I was about to scream in my rage and sorrow to the world, but the monster lunged at me with its mouth outstretched like some humanoid snake before I could.

…

"Maria! Maria! Wake up!"

Opening my eyes, I saw John's mismatched eyes looking straight into mine, filled with fear. He was shaking me like a rag doll and I felt water near my eyes.

"Maria! Are you up?" He looked like a madman, and he definitely acted that way.

"Jo-John! Yeah, yeah I'm okay!" I managed to mutter out after realizing what was going on. He stopped me instantly but continued to look worried for me. It was immediately replaced with irritation.

"Please don't lie. You made so much noise it woke me up before my alarm clock, and that's saying something! When I came for you, it looked like you were having a friggin' seizure!"

I gasped a little at that. I didn't know I was making so much racket in just a nightmare. "It's okay, really! It was just a little nightmare, really!"

He didn't believe me at first. I could see the doubt in his face, but he bit his lip in anticipation. "You sure? Because believe me, it looked like you were drowning in your sleep. Did I mention your were screaming as well?"

"Yes, yeah! I'm okay. It was just…" I hesitated before continuing. "so, oh so fucked up." I whispered, and John blinked at the word. He sat down on the ground properly now and let me go. I hovered to the soft blanket I discarded last night, and he shuffled next to me, the early morning sunlight over his black hair.

"Really? Just how fucked up was it?" I smiled at his curse. Looks like waking up so early got him crankier than I thought. I giggled a little before turning cold at the memory.

"Oh, oh God! It was horrible!" I said quietly, so that I was absolutely sure none of this would escape the attic. I was shivering, and grabbed the blanket to cover myself. "I woke up, just like this, and the whole house was on fire! It was even worse than the one at the mall! Literally, every inch of the house was on fire. You came in the room, barefoot, no less, to get me out!"

John's face revealed nothing but shock. He took a few breaths to give time to think of a response. "Well…okay. That's a bad dream, I admit. But I can't picture you screaming because of just that. There's got to be more than that, right?"

I looked away from his demanding eyes to the blanket, feeling bad for showing disrespect like this when he was trying to calm me down. I trembled when I started talking. "Yeah. I got out of the house, and saw Nio and Kyle! They got Gray to light the house, and…" I couldn't say anymore, and buried myself in the blanket out of his view, embarrassed at what I just said about them.

"Oh, I get it." He said gently, although it calmed me down none. "Don't worry about it. You're not the only one. I still have doubts." I heard him get to his knees and exit through the attic hole.

"Wait, John." I blurted out. I got the blanket off of me and stared at his eyes. I was afraid to tell him this, but I just wanted to let him know. "After I got out, Gray was about to kill me, but before he could…you came out too."

He smiled at this. "What? You telling me I survived a fire? That's awesome! Looks like I'm made of tougher stuff than-"

"No, it's not like that!" I cut him off and continued on with my explanation. I had to do my best to keep from hesitating and shuddering. "You came out, but…you looked horrible! You should have died, you were burnt everywhere, into a literal crisp! But you kept walking out like a zombie, and…you…"

"Did I eat you?"

I blinked at the sudden answer, but nodded vigorously. "Yes! You lunged at me and you ripped your mouth open and ate me whole! I don't know what the hell's wrong with me, but that's no normal dream John!" I didn't mean to scream out, but I was trembling too much to care anymore at this point.

He gave off no sound from his mouth, and he was slack-jawed at my description. We froze right there in each other's gaze.

It was a few minutes before he took initiative, placing a hand to his forehead and massaging it. "Well, damn. I can't deny that does sound fucked. But the only thing we can do about it is to not think about it, even though it's going to be hard. I had a similar dream too, you know."

"What? When, how!"

"The night before the game started. There was a man burnt into a sizzling corpse in front of the school. Next day, I investigated a little and while I'm purely guessing, he was killed by a Pokemon, probably even Arceus." He said glumly, and his frown got even curvier. "That night, I had a similar corpse in my dream. And just like you, it ate me. I bet that's how yours ended too, huh." He gave a sad smile, as if he pitied himself. "Damn. That taught me to know better than to search up dead bodies on the internet at night."

He laughed quietly and grabbed me, his fingers over my hair. Admittedly, I would be disgusted and wriggle out from his hot hands, but I didn't have the heart or the strength to do it so early in the morning. He pulled me into his stomach, which managed to relax me plenty. "Do you think this is all a coincidence, though? What are the chance of you and I having the same dream?"

All I did was shrug in his arms. "I don't know. But I don't think it's a coincidence."

John crawled out of the attic with me in his arms, and his room's light blinded us for a second. John let go of me and while I was busy cooling down from his hot arms, he jumped onto his bed and planted his face to the pillow. I floated over to the bed and landed his black hair. He looked comfortable and looked too tired to engage in conversation, so I took the approach.

"John, I'm sorry, but it's a Saturday and all, and I got literally nothing to do, so…I was hoping I could visit Jess?"

He didn't move an inch, but he did sound curious. "What for?"

I clenched my teeth as I tried my best to look normal. "I want to see how she's been doing, you know, since leaving Mac to Alex." While that was not my real reason, it was a nice cover.

"Let me guess. You don't want me to come."

I didn't expect the answer-_how the hell did he know that!_ But I kept my face straight when I gave my answer. "No, it's not like that. I just want her to be straight with me when I ask her some…_personal questions._" Saying those words felt like a big mistake, but I couldn't think of a better one in time.

John got up and sat cross-legged while I was hovering again eye-level to him. "What, you're saying that…oh, oh I get it. Alright, alright." He said calmly and leaned against the wall.

I gave out a "Huh?" at this. What could he be thinking about between me and her? "What do you mean "Alright"?"

"I'm saying I like the idea. You go there, and ask her what you want, but when you come back, I want to know what you've been talking about. Remember the last time you went to talk with her?" His tone turned lighter and a smile crept into his face. "I know you chat about more than just the idea of showing Pokemon to mom and dad. I know; girls are just natural gossips."

That last bit got me riled up, and I floated closer to him just to show how angry I was. "What! How can you think like that! I'm not-"

"Exactly, you're _not_ gossipy. I can't imagine you being the type. But Jess is, and I want you to tell me what she thinks about Kyle." He finished, and gave a satisfied grin.

I was a bit confused by this. "What? Why would you want to know about what she thinks about Kyle? Do you still doubt him?"

His smile bent down but didn't turn into a frown. "Yeah, I still am, and according to your dream, I'm guessing you are too."

Well he got me there. After seeing him, I didn't know what to believe now, and the dream just made things more perplexing. John continued to explain on. "I think it's a good idea to see what others think of him. Not me, you, Alex, or even Nio. An unbiased opinion would be best, I think."

I could see the reasoning behind that. Jess and Kari only heard about Kyle, and Jess saw him first-hand. She had the least amount of contact with him, and a stranger's view of Kyle would tell us how he is now without opinion getting in the mix. "I see what you mean." I said after taking a moment to process the idea in my head. "Okay. I'll ask her when I get the chance."

With that, after a few moments for John and I to make up an excuse for my leave to his parents, I flew out the window to find Jess.

…

I could see her house, exactly where I remember it from the last time I visited her (okay, that was months ago, so I had to check on John's PokeNav to be sure), but through the spring morning heat, I could see something else in front of the house-a black-haired girl in a yellow hoodie and a certain silver fox.

"Kari, Mitsune?" I whispered to myself in curiosity. I approached behind both of them. "What are you doing here?"

Both of them jumped a foot in the air and looked around them. "Yes! Yes, who's there?" Kari whipped her head back, causing her black hair to get in her mouth, while Mitsune sniffed the air, already aware the speaker was invisible, with a ferocious look in her eyes.

"Wait, wait! This scent…John? No, Maria!" She yelped out in realization. I smiled and I noticed I was still invisible. I quickly made myself visible and when Kari saw me, she exhaled in relief.

"Sorry about sneaking up like that!" I laughed out. "I swear, I forgot about the whole 'ghost-type invisibility' thing. Sorry about scaring you like that, Mitsune." I apologized to her quickly; she looked ready to throw up a mouthful of fire in annoyance.

Kari, noticing this, waved her hand to Mitsune, calming her down a bit. She was smiling too, but Mistune was swinging her tails back and forth, probably still angry at me. "Don't worry about her." Kari explained. "It's just that, Jess told us that Mr. Nio wanted us to take our Pokemon out whenever we go outside, and people's been staring at us and running away. So she's kind of..._hyper_ at the moment."

"Hyper?" Mitsune uttered sarcastically. She had a large frown and shook her head. "The people were the hyper ones, Kari! Did you see how fast they ran?"

I understood what she meant. It's not everyday you see a nine-tailed silver fox. "Anyways, what are you doing out here?"

"We're here to see Jess, obviously. We heard about that bully John faced and we want to know more about it." Kari said under her breath.

I nodded in agreement at the situation. "I'm here for the same reason. But since we're here, you may want to keep Mitsune in her Pokeball? Just for now?" I suggested.

"You're probably right. Her mother would freak out if she saw us. You can turn invisible Maria. Just stay close to me." With that, she pulled her Pokeball from her hoodie pocket and tapped a willing Mitsune back in. She pocketed the ball and knocked the front door. I turned transparent again and a few seconds later, Jess was at the front with a surprised look.

"Oh, Kari! You were visiting? You really should have called earlier!" She had a smile, but her eyes showed otherwise. "Come in, then. Mom, there's a friend here! Can she come to my room?" she yelled into the house. A moment later, a brunette of about 50 came by. She had a pair of angry eyes that shifted instantly to glad ones when then spotted Kari.

"Oh, you have a friend along! You should have called, and we would have cleaned up! Alright, you can take her, but only to your room, alright?" She said with a stern tone.

Jess simply smiled and led Kari along the way, with me right behind. "Yes, mom."

After a flight of stairs, we entered the room I familiarized with. The same red walls, table stacked with books, and the same bed. Kari sat on the latter while Jess planted herself on the chair next the table.

"Jess, mind if I release Mitsune in here? She's in her ball, and really doesn't like it." Kari asked as soon as she could. I was still invisible and waited patiently for her signal.

Jess gave a brief nod after closing the door shut, and Kari released Mitsune in a bright light before lying down on the floor, her tails swishing back and forth. She gave a yawn before saying "So, is Maria going to show herself yet?"

"Huh? Maria's here too?"

"Yep, I am." With that, I landed on the pile of books on the table and turned visible. Jess gave a small gasp, but prevented herself from screaming from shock.

"God, Maria! Try to warn me better next time!" She lectured me like a parent, and I laughed at the attempt.

"Right, sorry, but we need to get down to business."

"Yes. It's about that Kyle you met at Nio's." Mitsune interjected. "You said John's old bully was there. How was he?"

Jess looked disturbed by the question's lack of subtlety. "Wha-why do you need to know that?" she said in stumbling words. I felt bad about invading privacy like this, but everyone in the room needed to know.

"Isn't it obvious?" I exclaimed. "We want to know what you think of him!" A second later I realized how that sounded, and I could see the faintest of pink on Jess's cheeks. I flustered a little as I explained myself. "Sorry! I didn't mean like that! I just meant what you think of him now! You know how he was a complete bastard for what he did to John before. But we want to know what you think of him now that he's changed."

While we waited patiently for her answer, Jess bit her lips and gripped the chair with her hands, baring her knuckles. "He seems like a nice guy now, I think." She said simply.

"Yeah, but John still has doubts about him." I pressed onward. "Even after their super-depressing childhood memories, including Nio's, he still thinks Kyle's a bad guy!"

Mitsune craned her head towards me at my remark. "Why are you so concerned? You met Kyle, just like Jess, and you're the closest friend he has. Do you want to console him that badly?"

"Of course I do!" I kept my scream to a minimum so Jess's mother couldn't hear, but I said those words without thinking. Jess and Mitsune shared a weird look between them, before they erupted in a silent fit of giggles.

_What the heck's so funny? This is a serious matter!_

"Man, Gray was right." Jess quietly chucked out. "He really is your BF."

At that, everyone besides me started to have fits of their own. Jess was covering her laughing mouth with a shaking hand, Kari double-upped on the bed, and Mitsune was literally rolling on the floor laughing. I was burning up, and actually felt beads of sweat falling down my hair.

_Oh right, that!_

Luckily they cooled down after a few seconds (good thing too, I was ready to explode!), and all that was left was some smiles. After a few minutes of wisecracking from the 3 of them, the conversation formed itself on the right track again.

"But honestly, Kyle's a good guy now. He even had Nio and Alex backing his words up. He can't be _that_ evil now, can he?" Jess said aloud to nobody in particular.

"Well, I'll take your word, but I still support John all the way." I answered her with a finishing tone. "Well, now that the main issue's out of the way, I want to know, Jess, what was that with John hugging you before?"

"Huh?" It took her a moment before she remembered the moment. I could tell she remembered because her cheeks turned pink again. "Oh that! Oh, it was nothing, really! I just had a little breakdown when I didn't know what to do with Mac. You see, I had to get him out of the house for a day or 2, because my dad and brother came back home didn't like the idea of a dog in the house."

"Oh, man. I bet Mac was pissed when he heard that!" Kari giggled out.

"Yeah, but luckily, dad didn't notice he was a talking Pokemon. But little brother Nigel knew what he was, but he kept it between me and him. And I trust him. He never broke a promise with me."

"What a nice brother." I said, and it reminded me of Jason back home. He was rarely around, and didn't treat John like anyone special. I guess John didn't want him to pity him after the incident. "What about you, Kari? Do you have any siblings?"

"Well, I do have a brother, Naiki, but he's back in Japan, working at a rival company to my dad's. He decided that if dad's company went down, he would pick the next best one. But because of this, he chose to stay behind when we moved out. I still get letters from him every year, though." She smiled at the memory, before I broke the silence with another question.

"Mitsune, how are things with Kari? Were you discovered yet?"

"Yeah, after Alex visited my family. Right after the mall incident, mom and dad saw Mitsune. I was lucky, though. They actually liked me for what I was. They told me it's because I represent their Japanese background. They agreed that they would keep my existence a secret, as long as I try to stay out of trouble. Kari was so happy she hugged her parents." Mitsune ended up chuckling as she said the last bit.

"It's been a while since I've shown that much affection to them." Kari laughed in turn. "I can't remember the last time I hugged them like that. Years ago, probably."

_Speaking of years…_I looked at the clock, and realized it was almost 1 o'clock.

"Woah! I've been here for _waaay_ too long!" I rose from the stack of books I was perching on, and got ready to leave. "Sorry, but I don't want to stay here any longer than I have to. Not to mention, I don't want to miss lunch." A vague memory of last night's spaghetti drifted across my eyes, and I instinctively licked my lips. Everyone looked depressed at my sudden announcement.

"Aw, but we were getting along so well!" Kari moaned out, a mock frown on her face.

"Don't worry about it Kari." Mitsune said in a soothing voice. "Let her go to be off with her boyfriend again. It's none of our business, anyways."

I remained in the air slack-jawed as the room shook with laughter again. "Ha ha! Very funny. Good bye!" I groaned in annoyance before I turned around and approached the window-

**DING DONG! DING DONG!**

Everyone in the room froze at the sudden sound of a door bell ringing. I cursed myself for staying too long. Now there's an even higher chance that I could get caught. Jess tip-toed over to the door and opened just a gap so we could hear what was going on. We were all frozen in anticipation to see who was there.

Was it Jess's dad? Alex? John?

The thudding of footsteps was soon followed by the sound of a door opening. All of our ears were turned up the highest they could get to hear what was going on. Normally, we wouldn't be this serious at just a simple visitor, but when there were Pokemon like me involved, you had to be careful about who you meet, don't you?

"Hello, who are you?" Jess's mother's shrill voice answered the door. I flew closer to the door, curious to hear any voices I recognized. Everyone was too scared to move at this point, and Kari and Mitsune just sat in their respective seats with sharp eyes as well as ears.

"Hello, my name is Tasha." The stranger's happy voice belonged to a girl, but it was smooth and felt mature. "I'm sorry for asking you this, but do you have any monsters in your house?"

…

**Whew! There, one chapter for the week! Man, leaving a cliffhanger, while it may piss you off, I'm just so happy I'm done this chapter. Like the last chapter, it's mostly composed of explanations and character development. Sorry if it was boring, but I can promise you there will be an action scene in the next chapter! Just think of it like a little punishment for not a single alternate title for the story this week.**

**Thanks for the OC idea, Tamara the Hybridian! I told you I would use your OC! Now let's see how she'll play out it this story!**

**Also, for those who are still a bit paranoid about Nio's anagram, I made up Kari's brother's name as an anagram of the Japanese word 'aniki' meaning 'older brother'. Man, I've been watching too much anime nowadays…**

**Anyways, sorry if the story was boring so far. Again, I promise some action between the characters the next chapter and remember to review! Or if you're feeling gutsy, submit your own OCs! It's unlikely I'll use them, but I'll be sure to use them in another story I have in the idea stage!**

**Again, I would be grateful for any reviews you can give! I look forward to them!**


	24. Q & A

John's POV

"Alright, I'm not here to beat around the bush. I want answers."

I looked both of them in their eyes, and tried my best to appear and sound serious as I could. But no matter how hard I tried, it just seemed unlikely to get straight answers out of the two men around the table. What adults would take a mere 16-year old like me seriously, anyways? I remained in my chair, crossing my arms and looking down at the, waiting for their responses.

Alex was the first to break the silence. "John, you're talking about the game, right?" he said uncertainly. It was brief, but I could see his eyes dart towards a frowning Nio and back before resuming. "Then I can definitely tell-"

"No. Not the game. Well, the game, and some other stuff." I bit my tongue inside my cheeks after my sudden interruption. But I couldn't stop there. I was jumpy about this all day, and nothing was getting in my way today this time. "More about you. More about Nio. Hell, more about Pokemon in general. You've been working behind the scenes for a while now, and I know; I've been watching the news everyday and there's nothing about these Pokemon incidents. That's a good thing, I know. But what are you really working on?"

Alex looked like he agreed with my initiative, because he too leered at Nio. He instead of brushing it off and chuckling like he usually does, stared back at both of us with eyes that could make a kid wet themselves. Thankfully, I already went before coming to Nio's. I had to get this out of my head.

He balanced his head on his hands with the same voice however, which relieved me a little. But what he said did not. "People know about Pokemon."

I didn't look disturbed by this, but those words shook me up inside, creating a feeling similar to nausea. I wanted to shower him with questions right then, but I had to keep calm and think this out before asking stupid questions. "What, you mean Pokemon are now proven to exist? To others, I mean. They know they exist? Over the whole world?"

"Not exactly." He got up from his chair and walked over to nearby computer beside the table. It was left on, and we heard the click of the mouse, followed by an internet video site (and no, it wasn't YouTube.)

"News doesn't just pop out to people like an explosion. It can grow in reputation, too." Nio typed in some words and with another click, a column of videos appeared on screen. I walked over to it and read some of its titles. **MONSTERS AT HOSPITAL, STRANGE ANIMAL DISCOVERED, REAL LIFE POKEMON NO JOKE…**

And the list just went on and on from there.

Most of the videos were the same, just uploaded under different users, but when Nio clicked the hospital one, I recognized the location. "This was taken in the hospital after the mall incident?"

"Yes, and the rest were probably just taken as sneak shots." Nio said, and the video started to play. Right in the middle of the screen was Mitsune, and next to her was Kari, still in her bright yellow coat. The camera mainly focused on Mitsune however, as she flicked her shiny tails back and forth. I could see one of her legs was in a cast like I remember it, and people sitting in chairs in the hallway was looking at her with a combination of fear and shock. I was wondering whether the video was muted or not, because I couldn't hear a peep. Either the user muted the video, the speakers to the computer was broken, or the scene was simply void of sound.

I shivered a little at the thought. Kari must have been so embarrassed about this, but she just kept walking as if the hallway was empty, with Mitsune doing the same. "Damn. Kari must have been so brave to just walk off like that. I still had her Pokeball during the time, so I guess there was no other way." I looked at the view count-_over 3 million?_

Alex must have seen my widened eyes, because he started chuckling. "Yeah, This is just one of the copies of the original video, yet it has that many views. While it's not enough to make it on the front page, the appearance of Pokemon have been going rather viral, and blogs are going crazy at trying to explain what this could mean. Sure, most people think this is just a fraud, but the rest believe these are real, as they should be thinking. Right, Gavin?" His voice took a sudden turn, as he directed it towards the man sitting next to the computer.

"Yeah, they should be. But they were scared, and that's what I'm afraid of. The children there must have recognized that fox as a Pokemon. But the parents, they just saw her as a monster. If it weren't for Alex, she would have been kicked out of the building along with Kari." Nio got up from his chair and went back to the table, but didn't sit down. "It's going to take a bit longer, but eventually the whole town will know about Pokemon, whether through the internet, gossip, or even the papers. From there, it's going to get even worse. The whole world could get involved. If Pokemon and their trainers don't behave, it gives the authority even more the reason to exterminate both."

My heart leapt at that statement. Those words sounded just like the ones I told myself when Maria hatched. _So, I was right to be so paranoid? Is that a good thing, or bad thing?_

"But I saw this coming, and Alex and I are preparing to face the worst cases. Don't feel _too_ responsible of what Pokemon do, John. I expected these technicalities when I pictured my plan." Nio finished dumbly, and went over to the sink and poured himself a cup of water. After gulping down its capacity, he continued talking.

"John. You said you came here to find out about Nio and Alex?"

I balled my hands as I got ready to say it out. "Yes. There's too much unknowns in what I know, and if I'm involved in this plan of yours, I need to know what we're getting involved in. Not just me and Maria, but the rest of the players."

"Fine then. Ask away, and I'll answer as best as I can." With that, he planted himself to the chair in front of me.

_Wait, what?_

"Wait, so it's that easy? You're going to answer whatever I ask?" I couldn't believe this.

"Finally, some answers." Alex interrupted suddenly. "I've been waiting for about 3 months to get them out of you. I don't even care now you decided to tell us this with John here." As he said this, his voice became more vigorous, hungry for information.

"Wait, Alex? What's you got to do with this?" I blurted out without thinking. He looked at me with eyes that shone with anticipation.

"John, ever since I heard from Nio from the mall incident, I've been trying to get some dirt on him, but I couldn't find out anything. It's nice to see he's going to sate some of our curiosity." He turned to Nio again and had a triumphant grin.

"Yes, I feel like you've taken enough crap from me. John, you've best ask something quick before Alex blows his top." He chuckled out, and I quietly laughed with him.

"You won't lie about what you tell me?" I asked him, looking him right in his face.

"Don't worry." Alex said beside me. "Nio's not the type to lie. Believe me; I've worked with him this whole time."

I smiled faintly at this assurance, and went on with my never-ending list of questions.

…

Maria's POV

"Monsters?" the mother's voice rang out, followed by amused laughter. "We have no monsters, girl. Only our dog, and he's no monster, although I thought he was too."

"I'm sorry, but I can assure you there are monsters, including your dog." the young female insisted, her cheery tone now taking a more subtle turn, as if implying something. "I saw that Ninetales from the hospital right here, along with another monster, right next to your daughter's friend. They're dangerous, and you need to get them out."

I couldn't see it, but I knew Jess's mother turned serious. "I don't know what you're talking about, but you need to leave, Tasha!" I heard the creaking of the door closing, but abruptly stop. I gasped at what could happen now. We were all frozen at what could happen at this point.

"I'm sorry, but I need to do this." There was a loud **BANG** as the door flew open immediately yielding an "Oof!" of pain from Jess's mother. Following right after, there was loud stomping of feet as the girl sprinted this way. Without even a second to think about what to do, the room door burst open and we saw the girl called Tasha up close.

She had a black hair like Kari, but it was cut short, not to mention looking like it was cut in clumps, as if she tried to cut it herself. She was in clothing one would expect a regular hoodlum would wear; a dirty grey hoodie with baggy camo pants, and she had her dusty grey shoes on as well. She had a small but prominent scar above her left eye, slashed horizontally across, its brown texture contrasting with her white skin. Judging from her eyes, she was Asian, although I would have to say Chinese (hanging out with John got me to meet with loads of people, and I learned the difference between some to recognize nationality, albeit incorrectly sometimes), and they bore a look of determination on her young face, which its cleanliness surprisingly contrasted from her filthy attire.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" She roared out, looking over the room. Her eyes scanned all of us in quick succession, as if she was training for this.

This was followed by an awkward silence, however, as all of us were too scared to say anything. Why wouldn't we be? A psycho girl barges into your house and room under 3 seconds, knocking aside a poor woman in the process. What were you supposed to say to someone like that?

"Just chillin'?" I eventually spoke out in a sarcastic tone. Sadly, my attempt at humor was ignored, and she walked in the room, continuing to leer at us.

"Yes, we were just talking amongst ourselves. You should learn some manners, Tasha, or whoever you are. How could you barge in like that?" Mitsune said to her. Surprisingly, her voice was still gentle even with the sudden intrusion. I guess she matured over the months.

"Well, that doesn't make a difference, because I'm taking you out right here! Bolt!" Out from behind the door, a huge yellow rat appeared, his feet tightly gripping the floor. The rat was completely yellow, save for black ears and brown-striped back. He had very red circles on his face, one on each cheek.

One look at it was enough to make anyone squee in joy. "Oh God, it a-"

"PIKACHU!" In a flash, Jess was off her chair and before the said Pikachu could react, he was in her arms in a life-squeezing hug. "Oh, God! He's so cute! Even more that the pictures online! I always knew the real thing would be better than just having it in-game!" I could see the Pikachu turn slightly orange in the face from being buried like that, and while we didn't make a sound, the rest of us in the room had smiles on our faces.

"Bolt! Get a grip!" the girl Tasha screamed out, and within Jess's arms, I could see sparks emanating between them and Jess's hair was instantly standing by their roots. She gave a yelp from the shock and dropped Bolt to the ground, where he retreated back behind the girl.

"Sorry. Bolt's ability tends to do that." Tasha said to us, a small smirk on her face. "I'm sure you know what it is, right?"

"Of course. I don't know a single Pokemon fan that doesn't know Static." Kari explained back. Her smile was gone, and Mitsune was on her legs as well.

"Static?" I blurted without thinking. "That's the ability where if you make contact-"

"You get shocked!" came out a small, but thick voice, and a blur of yellow was all I saw before that yellow collided with me face-first. After that, my mind blanked out from the pain and shock and I could feel myself colliding to the wall, almost knocking me out along with the books on the table to the floor.

"Ahhg!" I groaned out, and instantly the concussion from the impact of both Pikachu and wall seemed to double (quadruple dose of pain, anyone?) I landed to the ground with eyes closed, trying to pull myself together as the pain spread all over me, which was saying something because the pain was all over me before!

"You little rat!" I heard Mitsune roar out from the scuffle and I opened one of my eyes to see a large silver fly towards the yellow on the ground. "You'll pay for that!"

I couldn't see; my body was twitching everywhere and I couldn't open my eyes from the pain, but I heard Jess getting ready too. "That's right! You don't mess with us that easy, you brat!"

"Quick, Thunderbolt!"

The next few seconds were filled with flashes of yellow and the sound of electricity crackling in the air. It was weird. I expected the sound of screaming in the air, but it looks like cartoon wasn't the same as being actually shocked. When the light disappeared, I could smell burning hair and two bodies falling to the ground. The powerful electric attack didn't seem to faze them too much, because I heard Jess and Mitsune struggling to grab footing. And they sounded like they could kill.

"That's it, bitch! I'm ripping you apart myself!"

"Leave that rat to me!"

"Damn! Bolt, let's bounce!"

"Yeah, let's!"

I couldn't sense much after that. All of my focus was on the pain, and I no matter what I did, deep breathing, relaxing myself, nothing seemed to take the pain away. I closed my eyes as my body turned hot, blood rushing in every inch of me.

"Goddamn! What the hell's wrong with me!" I stuttered out. I managed to get one eye open and saw Jess and Kari crouching over me.

"Mitsune get back here! We need to take care of her first!" I heard Kari roar out through the room. She picked me up in warm hands and I got both eyes open to take a good look at her. Her black eyes were looking back at mine, and for some reason, my vision was shaky.

"What's going on?" I groaned out. "I know that Pikachu was t-tough, but that didn't feel l-like an electric attack!"

Kari stood up to her feet, and started to run. I heard Mitsune and Jess approach behind us. "What's wrong with Maria? She looks like she's having a seizure!"

"You should know." Mitsune talked back to her, annoyed at letting her enemy go that easily. "That Static of his must have affected Maria more because she doesn't have clothing on like you. And I have a bigger body size than her. Let's be thankful that she's not poisoned."

"Damn, that Pikachu was strong. Sorry mom, she's just a friend of mine dropping in!" Jess yelled out, probably to her mother still downstairs. "Kari, pass me Maria, and get Mitsune back in her Pokeball. We need to find Alex."

"Alex? He should b-be at Nio's p-place!" I groaned out. "Jess, you know w-where it's at right?" I felt hands shifting under my twitching body, and I looked up to see Jess, her blond hair more than enough to indicate.

"Yeah, of course! Come on! And after we get you fixed, I'm kicking that girl's ass myself!"

_Well, this day's turning out real fun. John, wherever you are, you best stay there. I don't know what I would do if that girl found you…_

…

John's POV

"Aw hell…" I moaned out, gripping my hair in frustration. "So, in a nutshell, you're both from the Pokemon world?"

"Yep."

"And this game…is all just a ruse for Alex to find and kill you?"

"Yep." Nio responded with his smile back on his face.

"What are you smiling at, Gavin!" I roared at him. It was, of course, extremely rude to yell at your elders, but this was an emergency. "You got a god trying to kill you here! How can you be so lax!"

"Woah, calm down, boy. I've got it under control. At least, I hope I do." He said with the same mischievous smirk.

Alex, however, did not find this very funny at all. "Gavin, this is serious! Thousands, maybe even millions of lives are at stake here!" Alex slammed his fist on the table to emphasize, making me jerk a little in fear. "That bastard Arceus sent me here so I can kill you. You know why? Because your plan's not just to have Pokemon cooperating with humans! Well let me tell you now, it's not going to work! Not now, not ever!"

"I know. I know just what a fickle god Arceus is." Nio stood up from his chair, his countenance taking a depressing tone. His eyes didn't shine with the laughter I knew, and his face seemed to have lost its shine. "But I don't intend on stopping now. I've come too far to stop, and I want to see it through."

"You're crazy. You're going to die." Alex countered.

"Do you know why Arceus is trying to kill me, Alex? John?" I shuddered at the mention of my name, and before I could respond with a "No I don't.", Alex cut me off.

"Of course! He's trying to avoid anyone from this world to figure out the Pokemon's secrets! And when they do, the people will round up every Pokemon and their trainers and kill them! That's what Arceus is trying to do!" Alex gritted his teeth in his response, and all I could do was bury my head in my arms, not sure of what to believe anymore.

"There's a lot more to it than that. Think, man. Arceus sent Pokemon to this world, why is that?" Nio asked while crossing his arms.

Neither Alex nor I let out a sound after that, and Nio continued. "It's simple. This is purely guesswork, but in case you failed, the players would take up your job to kill me themselves."

"WHAT!"

I stopped breathing after I heard that, and starting pulling at my hair again.

_So that's it? The only reason why Maria's here is to kill Nio?!_

Nio drove on, ignoring my frustration."Your Lucario's getting old, I noticed. If Arceus wanted you to kill me personally, why would he send out all those Pokemon eggs?"

Alex opened his mouth, but after a moment of realization, he slowly closed it back. He snarled through his teeth.

"How the hell do you know all this? You working with Arceus too?" Alex growled, looking ready to kill if necessary.

"Don't you remember, he sent me here as well as you? He had a very good reason to do so. My plan back home, and here, was simple: to connect our worlds together."

We froze at his words; the time for dramatic gasps was over. Alex started again. "So…what, you're trying to build a portal that connects our world to the Pokemon's?"

Despite the eccentric idea of it, I wasn't too thrilled-I was more focused on trying to keep from getting killed.

"Precisely. The risks that come with that plan is the main reason Arceus wants me dead. If such a portal existed, our dying world would be able to take refuge there. But, what then? Armies would invade, trying to take over the Pokemon world, for obvious reasons, like supplies, housing, you know, the easy cure for this planet's overpopulation. But then, the Pokemon would fight back, and an all-out war would be created, damaging both sides. He wants to avoid that by killing its cause: me." Nio explained matter-of-factly, and took a sip from his cup.

"You've got quite the history with Arceus. What went between you three? Gavin and Alex?" I pondered. The idea was laughable-a man meeting a god, and the god sending him to an alternate world?

"Back home, I was a scientist, researching on the theory of multiple worlds, universes, that kind of thing. Anyways, my searches ultimately led to a face-to-face confrontation with Arceus in the best way: a Pokemon battle. The consequences were simple: I lose, my research team and I die from dabbling in what he calls "the knowledge of the gods". I win, and he shows and gives me what I needed for my project-a portal that connected the Pokemon world to others."

"Wow…" I whispered under my breath, Nio looking more admirable by the minute. So he tried to create a portal between worlds before all this? That would explain his techno-savvy intelligence, and how he could tinker with the PokeNavs like that. "You had the guts to take on a god?"

Alex seems surprised as well. His eyes were narrow and looked suspicious, as if he was doubting if this was all true or BS. "That sounds like a good deal, and I assume you took it."

"Of course! I had people, family, friends, all of them waiting for me back home, desperate for my discovery. I couldn't stop now! But…" Nio drifted off, and took another deep gulp from his cup. "I failed. Well, not so much failed, I mean…" He elaborated quickly, as I gave a "WHAT!" of devastation. "We tied. Me and him. We didn't know what to do; he didn't set any conditions to what happens in a draw. I fought him, fully expecting to die, actually. It was my greatest milestone in life." Nio said with sudden gusto.

"But then he came with a compromise: he would send me to this world, along with a chance to come back. I took it, not like I had any choice in the matter, and decades later, here I am, with the chance to come back right here within the game." He finished off, somewhat tired of his epic storytelling. He took one last drink before filling his cup again.

"So it's your bet with Arceus all over again. You win, you connect this world with the Pokemon's, and you lose, you die." Alex spat out.

"Well summarized." Nio said boringly.

I sat there with my jaw slacked, but Alex looked confused. "How did you survive here? Surely you had no money or logistics when you came here. Unlike me, where Arceus helped me settle in, but you…"

"I had friends in high places." Nio waved his hand to halt Alex. "When he sent me to this world, I was living in a dump of a house in Japan. That was all the mercy I got from Arceus. But then, after a few years, after grabbing my footing and getting a job after stealing a few identification documents by pure luck, I met a man named Satoshi Taijiri."

_Who? Satoshi? Wait, that the Japanese name for Ash from the anime, but that would mean…_

"You met the guy who created the franchise?" I almost exploded with excitement from his reveal, and Nio's loud laughter didn't help much. Amazingly, even Alex joined in on the laughter.

"Yeah, I did, it's amazing, I know!" Nio calmed us all down, and after he wiped a tear from his eye, he continued with a wide grin. "But don't believe everything you hear. Brace yourself, but _I_ was the one who inspired him to create the Pokemon games. I didn't help much, but being his friend really helped out. I didn't tell him the Pokemon world existed, of course, but just a little suggestion there, a brainstorm here, and that ultimately got him the first-generation Pokemon games. He didn't give me any credit for their creation, but he did treat me to free lunch whenever I asked."

I was speechless. Here, I thought Nio was just a leader of a charity group, but now he's the reason why any of us were here in the first place? It seemed hard to wrap my head around it, but with this confession and background, it was relatively elementary.

"Look. Look at this if you don't believe me." NIo got up and walked to the cabinet, containing all of his prestigious awards. He grabbed a small glass statue covered in dust, and handed it to me. "Look at the label."

I took a thumb and wiped it across the glass, and saw in faint letters: **To Satoshi Taijiri.**

"That was the award he got for coming up with such a remarkable marketing scheme-profits skyrocketed. And while no one was the wiser, he would also give me a cut from the profits and the award." Nio slapped my back chuckling, almost making the award slip out of my hands. I quickly placed it on the table before I could drop it again.

"So when you left Japan, you started the career of a charity? That's a handy cover." Alex said out loud. He looked happy that the truth was revealed, but he had eyes that had a tint of annoyance. "Crap. Now I got to kill the guy with such influence?"

"Relax, man. Just why are you supposed to kill me anyways?" Nio interjected, both of us wondering why he's so frustrated.

Alex looked a bit startled. "I'm…if I kill you, Arceus promised that I would be able to go back home. But now, I don't know what to do."

NIo sympathized with him, and tried to calm him down. "Listen. If that's what's bugging you, than here's a simple suggestion: screw the game. Help me with this project, and we can go home together. We both have family and friends waiting for us back home, so what's the problem?"

"Look, it's not that easy!"

"Really, how so?"

"Look, I'm betraying a god, don't you get that! He's going to kill me, literally! Not only that, he's the only one who can help me!" Alex was on his feet now, and looked like he was about to pull his hair out from his scalp any minute. I've never seen Alex so angry.

"Woah, hold on there." Nio said over his ranting, looking more annoyed that before. "What do you mean "only one who can help me"? Are you saying that you have another problem other than getting home?"

Alex hesitated. His lips thinned and his eyes were looking left and right before sitting back down on his chair, defeated. "It's…it's personal. If you think you can help me, then forget it. It's not something anybody can help me with. It's…family matters."

This got both Nio and my interest, but as much as I wanted to know, NIo didn't press any further. "Well, whatever it is, fine. You got your secrets, I got mine. But it's up to you if you want to work with me or not."

"Uhh, Gavin?" I softly inserted myself to the conversation. They both turned their heads so fast it was as if they forgot I was here. Instantly, I felt my face burn and skin tingle under my skin from their stares.

"Oh, right! John, we completely ignored you. So sorry!" Nio apologized with a small smile. "Anyways, anything else you wanted to know?"

"Uh, yeah. Just a little something before I go." I got up on trembling legs and walked up to him. "Your name. It spells Giovanni. You related to him?"

Nio smiled wider at the remembrance. "Yes. Gavin Nio is a fake name, and yes I'm related. Remember when I said I gave him the idea for the first games? That was my trainer life in a nutshell. Basically, I served as the architect for the character you call Red. But Satoshi deviated from my original storyline, adding the epics of facing Giovanni, the head of Team Rocket, and invading Silph Headquarters, and stuff like that."

"It was the second-generation games that caught my attention though. Remember the rival, Silver?"

"The red-haired kid? Yeah."

"Before I left to meet Arceus, I stole my father's journal. I suggested the second game's storyline be similar to the journal's (I pretended that journal was a novel I was writing.) Do you get it yet?" Nio clapped his hands together, waiting for my response with the biggest smile I've seen him wear.

_Silver…story…trainer…Red…Giovanni…father…_

_Silver...father...?_

I couldn't think straight with all this names creating a storm in my skull. Then it hit me. I wasn't sure it was the answer, but I couldn't see any other explanation. My mouth was open, gasping at this conclusion, while Nio was nodding his head at me to proceed with my answer. "You're…you're his _son?_"

**DING-DONG! DING-DONG! DING-DONG! DING-DONG!**

"What the…who could that be?" Alex ran to the door in a hurry. "It must be an emergency to get them ringing the door like that."

I walked behind him and looked at the crowd behind the door: Kari and Jess, along with Maria in Kari's arms and the latter two looking like they were burnt by a fire.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" I couldn't hold in the surprised and my breath stopped midway in my throat.

"Did you get into a fight?" Alex asked them loudly. Kari and Jess simply nodded their heads and made their way into the house. From the look of them, it was as if they were caught in an explosion.

"We'll tell you what happened, don't worry." Jess interrupted. It looked painful to even talk. "God damn it, my mom's going to kill me…"

…

**Well, here's another chapter for the week! I was hoping I could upload this sooner, but I was too busy brainstorming. Anyways, I hope this yields some reviews from you readers, especially Tamara. What do you think about your OC so far? Sorry if she seemed a bit too cruel in this chapter, but next chapter will show a more considerate side to her like you wanted.**

**Man, despite the chapter being painful to right, I can't say it wasn't fun. Who knew Nio had such back story? I'm having a bit of a regret now, placing so much importance on him, but I'll be damned if I have to rewrite the whole damn chapter. Anyways, tell me what you think of him now, along with the new title of the fanfic with the review button below!**


	25. Awkward

Maria's POV

"Mmmph! Mmphmm! Hmmmph!"

"Stop squirming! I'll get a few bandages out of the way, relax!"

John grabbed two of the bandages over my mouth and pulled them apart, finally allowing me to breathe out my mouth. I took a few gasps of air before I could sit still. "How could I relax when I'm suffocated by what's supposed to be helping me?" I complained, referring to the roll of bandages covering my whole body-I must look like a mummy in my state. I'm surprised I wasn't sweating in it.

"Sorry about that. I forgot you don't have much of a nose." John chuckled out, and got a mirror out. I groaned at my weird appearance. Forget mummy, I was more of a volleyball in my state.

"Still, I can't believe some random player would pick a fight like that, and hell, even track you down." John sat back on a chair, and looked at Jess and Kari, the former who had a few bandages on her own.

"That makes you think twice before picking up a random electric-type, huh?" Kari had a smile as she tried to stifle her laughter with a hand over her mouth.

"Oh be quiet! That Static, I could handle, but God! How were any of us supposed to know a Thunderbolt would hurt that bad?" She pouted, making some of her band-aids crinkle as she crossed her arms. "That girl, Tasha, or whoever the hell she is, had no reason to attack like that!"

"She's probably taking the game too seriously." I didn't turn around; the bandages practically prevented me from moving and I was still too tired to fly, but I knew it was Nio speaking. "But the whole plan was rather overboard-trying to take on two Pokemon in the house?"

"She was very strong." Mitsune grumbled under the table everyone was surrounding. She was surrounded by just as much bandages as I was, and sat down as soon as she was released out of her Pokeball. "I never felt an electric attack, but that Pikachu, Bolt, was tough. Tough enough to burn some of my fur."

Alex walked to the table and closed the first-aid kit. He picked it up and placed it on the ground. "Nio said she was taking the game seriously. She must have been picking fights deliberately the whole time. It would explain how her Pikachu was so strong."

"How come you don't know about this, Alex?" Nio inquired, slightly flustered at the idea of a girl killing off Pokemon. "Isn't your job supposed to be tracking down players? Why don't you know about her?"

Alex snarled at this comment before responding, annoyed at someone berating him in his work. "I track players down through their PokeNavs. I handed you a PokeNav I found before, remember? Maybe that belongs to her."

"Ahh, that one?" Nio jogged past us and went up stairs. A few seconds later, he came back with a something red in his hands, covered in scratches and dents.

Jess gave a small gasp of surprise and raised a finger. "Hey...now that I think about it, even though she was wearing a hoodie and all, she didn't look like she had a PokeNav on her in the first place. Her wrists weren't bulky, and she looked like she had a thin figure."

"You could tell that even with all those clothes? I'm surprised you don't have x-ray vision." John happily commented, grabbing onto my chair. "If that Tasha was looking for Pokemon the whole time, it would explain why we didn't see much action. She's been fighting them all this whole time."

Nio looked worried, and supported his head with his arms on the table. "Agreed. But despite the dangers, we need to find that girl. She's revealing Pokemon, but not in the positive light we want. Alex, can you get Light to track her?"

Alex smiled at the suggestion, and rubbed his hands together in anticipation. "Sound good. It's been a while since we've seen some action anyways. We could use the practice."

Nio smiled at his enthusiasm, but didn't change his tone. "Be careful. That Pikachu could have killed most of the players' Pokemon already. Who knows how strong she is?"

Alex walked away, but turned his head, giving a wink as he did so. "Who do you think you're talking to? You're looking at one of the strongest trainers in my world." With that, he pulled the door open.

"Wait!" Jess got to her feet and she jumped towards him. "I know this is going to sound weird, but can I come with you?"

I looked at her, shocked at her words. "What for? You're not going to be much help to him."

"I know that!" Jess almost screamed out the words, making me jump back. "but I...I know that that Tasha and her Bolt's still around here, and I don't want to be shocked by her like last time!" She flustered a bit, and looked hopingly and Alex.

I took a moment to look at John and Nio. They both had condescending looks, and Nio broke the awkward silence. "Well, that's a reasonable explanation. Alex, will you escort her home? You have Light in his Pokeball with you, right?" Nio said grinning.

He smiled back, and opened a hand towards Jess. "Yeah, sure. I could use someone to talk with, other than cranky Light."

Jess remained silent, but I could have sworn I heard the shortest and highest of squeals, and grabbed his hand, escorted like a princess.

"Nice kid. She likes Alex, I see." Nio remarked impishly, and allowed a moment of silence for our smiles to disappear.

"So...you're both from the Pokemon world?" Kari uttered. I understood the shock. John gave us the recap as he was helping me with the bandages, and easy to say, we were all speechless when he was finished.

"Yes and this game is my chance to get back home. Not just me, but Alex too." Nio answered casually.

Despite the gravity of the issue, he didn't seem to care too much about it. "I'm working on a project to connect our worlds together, but sadly, Arceus had to cripple my work before the game even began."

"Really? He tried to stop you before all this? How?" John asked. I wanted to ask him too, but my mouth was full of bandage cloth and I was busy trying to spit them out.

"He killed my biggest helper, not to mention my funder. His name's Yi. Howard Yi. Chinese fellow. Do you know him?"

"What? I don't know anyone named Yi." John answered honestly. Nio shook his head and pointed to a newspaper on the far edge of the table.

"You sure? He was on the news. It was months ago, but it caused quite the panic. His body was found on your school, if I remember it right."

"Woah woah woah!" Kari interjected, stammering. I turned to her and saw a look mass panic. I felt my pearls grow hot, and felt it get hotter every second. "Wait...you're not talking about that man found burnt to death at the school?"

"No...you mean him?" John had a look of realization and clapped his hands together.

"What the heck are you all talking about?" I spoke out, and I received the stares of the humans around me.

"Let me explain." I heard Mitsune's smooth voice below. She crawled out and sat down properly, looking at me with a serious look. "Before the game, a body, charred black was found in front of the school. Arceus used the poor man as a demonstration of what he's capable of. We're lucky he's not involved in the game directly."

I shivered at those words. That was the power of God, or the closest thing we have to one? It was ridiculous! And Nio's fighting him while Alex works for him?

"How in the hell did Alex and Nio got working together?" I had to ask. The chance of such a thing happening was slim to none.

"Alex is starting to defect." Nio answered. "I think he's starting to come to his senses and work with us to get back home. But I don't know what his _other_ problem is. Don't ask was what it is, I don't know, and neither does John." He said quickly, as I was opening my mouth to ask.

"But more importantly, how and when did you manage to create the portal, anyways?" John asked.

"In theory, it was easy, but not very in practicality. In my world, I was head of the scientist team to create the portal, and I had the proper funding. But here, I didn't have anything. That's where Mr. Yi came in, a famous scientist who worked from various levels, from the Macintosh computer from the Apple Company to rocket science. He was the only person other than you all to know of my background. He didn't think I was crazy. On the contrary, he was ecstatic at the chance to discover new worlds. We met each other in Japan, after the Pokemon franchise caught on. He gave me additional funding for this project."

"Who's working on the portal, and how did you get them to work for you?" John pressed on.

"They're fellow scientist who worked with Yi, and just as fanatical as him about discovering Pokemon. I had the plans for the portal with me when Arceus transported me here-probably thinking that the plans would serve no purpose in this world (but I showed him wrong!)-and they were eager to get it built, none deterred by Yi's death." Nio said, putting on an air of admiration in the memory of Yi's help.

"Wow…so you got this far from dumb luck?" John was flabbergasted, and slapped his forehead. "Well, I'm guessing it's not really dumb luck if Arceus told you that you would have a chance at going back."

"I guess so. I can't help but think I've got this far because of Arceus. But now, comes the hard part. The project is going smoothly, but there's something else." Nio turned to John, and looked grim. "Do you know the reason _why_ I've been looking for players and their Pokemon?"

"No...I thought you said you wanted to bring Pokemon in a positive light." John stammered a little, scared at the change in topic.

"Good. I see you still remember. But that's not just it. I got a second reason why I need them all. Alex, me, and the Pokemon-in case my plan to bring together people and Pokemon doesn't work and things get deadly because of them, I'm going to take us all back to where we belong, the Pokemon world."

Another moment of silence blanketed the room. I couldn't believe what I was hearing, and my body was shaking in anger from this revelation. "You-"

"You're going to take all the Pokemon back? From us?" John cried out, making everyone in the room jump. He was on his feet, and I saw that his eyes were shaking, as if he was going to break down and cry. I was shaking too, from fear at his sudden change in attitude. "That's what you're plan is? No way!"

"It's the most logical solution!" Nio got to his feet, and looked back at John. The air just got heavier and heavier with each word, and I was starting to sweat from the combination of bandages and atmosphere. "I knew you would be like this! That's why I'm telling you this now! Before you get too attached to Pokemon! They are, as you said, dangerous! But they'll be even more dangerous when they're captured and threatened and experimented upon by the military, the government! But we need to keep calm; my plan is only as a last resort, when things get hairy. That's why I need a good response from the public about Pokemon. We need such a reaction if we're going to survive!"

"We're obviously not going to get such reactions if they find out what happened to Yi at the school!"

In a flash, I saw Nio raise a hand in the air, and I instantly got up with it "No! You're not-!"

I froze. John froze, Nio froze. Kari, Mitsune, we all froze in place, unaware of what we were doing. I stayed in the air, my eyes glued to Nio's fist, and I saw his face. His mouth was in a horrible scowl, the combination of his sharp grey eyes and red hair gave a flash of what resembled a demon, the devil. He blinked, and his eyes traced back to his fist, and he blinked a few more, and seeing the confused look, I understood what I did.

I overreacted. His fist was only in front of him, and I immediately thought he was going to launch it to John.

"Uh, ah...sorry." I said quietly, the bandages starting to get cold from being soaked in my sweat, but I didn't shiver. "I just...when I..."

"No, no, no. I should be the one apologizing." Nio quickly said, stuttering as I did. He sat back down on the chair, and he gripped his mound of hair. "I'm sorry. There's no excuse for what I just did, trying to hit a child!" He tightened his grip, and I was slightly worried that Nio was actually going to tear hair out of his scalp.

"Mr. Nio...Mr. Nio, please, don't feel so bad..." I turned behind me and I saw Kari. But with a change in her appearance: she had tears she was frantically trying to wipe away with her arms. "Please don't shout."

All of us blinked at her. Nio let go of his hair, and I could see thin lines of red on his hands. He picked away the hairs with his free hand, and looked at Kari with a sad face. Weirdly, he had a small smile."You sound like you saw my...outburst before?"

She nodded, and continued to talk. "My parents, my parents were always fighting back when their company stocks were falling. Dad wanted to stay, wanted to save it in any way possible. But mom wanted to move out. The fights went on for days, weeks, and they were close, very close to hitting each other. It was scary. They would talk and they would get louder and louder until I could hear them outside of the house! The only reason they wouldn't hit, it was because I was in the house. The company finally had to lay him off. He wouldn't speak for a few days after that." She finally looked down at the ground and I could see water dripping onto her lap as she shook. Mitsune quickly got up, and planted herself next to her, using her tails to rub her legs.

I was stunned, but not as stunned as Nio was. He gripped at his hair again, but he used his other hand to wipe his face, and he gave a loud sigh. "I'm sorry. You're right, more than right." He said quietly, and blinked a few times. "I'm sorry. I have a daughter too, I know how traumatizing it can be for children."

She wouldn't respond, and kept on looking down. Mitsune wrapped more of her tails around her legs, and looked like she had a few tears herself. I looked at Kari, and saw her tears gave her jeans a polka-dotted pattern, and I immediately felt a ping of discomfort in my gut. "Mr. Nio-"

"We should go, Mr. Nio." I heard John speak as he grabbed his into his arms. I was so tensed up from what happened that I couldn't work up the energy to struggle, and I relaxed into his clothes. "I'm sorry about yelling like that. We should go. We've stayed out for too long. Please, take care of yourself, Kari." He started to slowly walk, and I saw he looked just as torn as everyone else was. I could see shallow waters near his eyes, and he started to walk out faster.

But, even when we exited the house, letting a breeze cool our skins, the suffocating atmosphere didn't leave us.

...

John's POV

_So...that's what he wants? He thinks will be for the best?_

_Well, of course. If people found out what a threat Pokemon could be, they would get out their pitchforks and fire to kill you all like witches._

_No. No. No way, no one's going to kill me. Not my family, not Maria, and not me._

"Jzzzn! Jzzzzn!"

Looking down, I saw Maria was shaking to get out of my arms. I let go of her, and she took a moment to breathe. "Sorry. I didn't know I was holding you so tight." I said lamely.

"Well, you should've known better!" she complained, but with a smile. She shook her head about, and saw some of her pink hair escape the bandaging. "But...what was that about? We couldn't have been out of the house _that_ long."

"I checked the clock in Nio's house, and we were out of the house for 3 hours. Guess his storytelling got me really absorbed." I laughed out, and grabbed her again. "You may want to stay like this. People may freak out when they see a floating volleyball with pink hair and yellow eyes like yours."

"What, you're saying my eyes look bad?" she shot back at me, completely catching me off-guard.

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that! I'm just saying other people might be intimidated. I know-people always pointed at me because of my different eye colours. It took a while for me to fit in with the crowd back in kindergarten."

"So...do they look good?" The emphasis at the end made me look at her eyes, and saw her red-yellow eyes for the first time since back at the school. They shone in the afternoon sun, and saw them stare right back at mine, making me squirm a little on the inside, but I smiled at her.

"Yeah...yeah, they look pretty." I let go of her, feeling a wee-bit uncomfortable between her stare and the memory of what went down at Nio's house. She floated for a bit, looking at the asphalt sidewalk before pushing herself in my chest, and I wrapped around her again.

"What do you think of Nio's idea? It doesn't sound very nice for us, but it seems like the best option."

I stopped in my tracks. I flashed my eyes to hers for an instant before continuing my march. The idea was still perfectly fresh in my mind, and I scowled at the disturbance it made in my head. It wasn't the best thing to talk about. "I feel the same way. I don't want you gone, so we're going to have to try to keep you out of sight, but you need to look good when people see you."

She kept quiet to think about what I said before resuming her questioning. "He said something about the eggs and Pokemon being special for the game. Any thoughts on that?"

Good to start the conversation on a comfortable subject. "He mentioned the eggs and their Pokemon-embryos (if you could call it that, I don't know!) depended on the people around them. I was the only one in the room when I got your egg, although I did hide you in the attic where you sleep in. Maybe the combination of the environment and people affected what Pokemon's born?" It would make a bit of sense-Mitsune, a Japanese-style fox for Kari, a Meowth for Nio being the grandson of Giovanni and head of a charity organization, but I couldn't put a finger on Jess and the dog Mac. "Did you ever see Jess act..._unusually_ when you saw her?"

"Well, not really, but when Tasha attacked us, Jess was screaming about how she was going to kill her." She shook in laughter and a smile crept up on my face as well.

"A Mightyena for mama wolf Jess." I joked. "Guess she's more serious than I thought she could be. But how did Mitsune evolved in just a few months? Without a Fire Stone?" I wondered out loud.

"Maybe it takes more than just getting stronger physically?" Maria said, slightly muffled from my arms. "I saw how she fought that Magmortar, and it looked like she was going to literally kill him, and I was really scared when I realized he could actually kill us all."

"To want to protect? That's all it takes?" I elaborated, but kept the rest of the thought process in my head.

_To protect? A friend, loved one? But just how strong did that thought have to be to get Maria to evolve like Mitsune? She trained harder than her, so it's logical that Maria should have evolved first-she was facing the same situation with the same mindset. Mac's fine-he doesn't need a stone to evolve, so he's out of the question. So what's she missing? What about that Magmortar? How did he do it? What does he have that I don't?_

I gave a tired groan. My thoughts were so cramped in my brain I felt a headache coming on.

"...a ghost-type for an antisocial kid with a dark disposition? Humph, that would make sense." Maria muttered, and I looked at her with a frown.

"Who's antisocial?" We got a good laugh out of that, and I looked up to see my house at the end of the block. "What about Alex? Hell, does Alex and Nio count as players? They're not from here to begin with." But even as I said this, my mind started to drift off to Nio.

Nio, fist raised, was ready to knock my teeth loose. That was probably the only time I ever saw him so furious. He must have been feeling more stressed than usual. The idea of taking away Pokemon from their owners must be hitting him pretty hard.

"Yeah, right..." I silently muttered, thinking about his criminal of a grandfather. A second later, I felt like drowning myself in shame. He was trying his very best to keep his project away from Arceus's eyes, and keeping up his cover as a charity organizer to boot. The stress must be overwhelming, trying to live two lives simultaneously.

_But, as soon as he made a fist, Maria got right in front of me, ready to fight. I don't know whether to be happy that she was protecting me, or angry at the fact she would attack him. She's gotten stronger, and faster, but why did she react like that, and what did she say?_

"_No!__You're not-!"_

_She practically screamed those words him. She must have been scared when she heard she was going to have to leave me. But doesn't she freeze on spot like anyone else would? I know I would. What got her going? Does she care about me that much? How cute._

"HEY, KID!"

The words lashed out of nowhere, making the 2 of us stiff as a board as we turned to see who it was. Whoever it was, they had a sharp, loud voice, and felt like it came from a street punk.

_Aw shit it's a cop! A drug dealer! A crazy-ass hobo! Oh, God what did I do wrong __this __time?_

But no. A girl, wearing a filthy grey hoodie and her camo pants were covered in scratches of dirt and rips in various places. Her short black hair was messed up everywhere and she had browns eyes, right above her left one was a scar. I was surprised that a girl in such filthy girl could keep her face clean. Thankfully, she was shorter than me and about 10 meters away, which calmed me a bit, but extorted a gasp from Maria

_Oh God, a female thug. Well, at least she's smaller. Unless she's got a gun..._

At this though, I took a deep breath to call for help, anybody that could help.

But, as fate would have it, I ended up a demonstrating a habit I gained while living with Maria: sarcasm.

"Look who's talking, _kid._" I shouted back at the girl. I wanted to stop, just shout out "What do you want?" in fear, but I ended up blurting the first thing in my head. The girl, meanwhile, looked shocked at my comeback, and I could see fists curling in her pockets.

And I didn't stop there. "Look, kid. If you're a pickpocket, you're terrible. If you wanted to kill me, you should have snuck up instead of yelling out like that. If you want anything from me, just go home. I don't have any money."

_What's wrong with me?_

The girl widened her eyes, but quickly narrowed them, making me shiver a bit. "Like I would ever want your filthy cash!"

_Filthy cash? What's that, money for drugs?_

"Besides, I just want that ragged volleyball of yours!"

"What volley...oh, this thing?" I raised up Maria in front of my head, her back facing the stranger. "Why would you ever want such a filthy thing?"

"Maria, what's going on? You know her?" I whispered to her to avoid being overheard by her.

"She's the girl that attacked us with her Pikachu!" was all she managed to say back in a fearful tone before the girl interrupted.

"Oh nothing." she said in a rather snobby tone. "I just want to take that ugly ball off your shoulders, that's all."

"Sorry, but I'm heading home right now. I can throw it away myself when I get home." I responded cockily. I grimaced a little at talking to a little girl like that, but if she's planning on following me, I need to get away where everyone could see. It would be disastrous to start a fight here.

I turned around and walked away, and I heard her following behind. "I'm willing to take that piece of trash off your hands. You should be happy I'm doing such a service. Hand it over." She was getting angrier, and her footsteps got louder with each word.

"What do you think we should do?" I whispered to Maria, desperate for any plan. As a last resort, I wanted to take her down personally, but in the open, it would look like I was assaulting her (in more ways than one.) I needed a plan that would not get me arrested.

Maria hummed in thought for a second but smirked when she whispered to me. "I got a plan, but it's pretty bold. Trust me on this one, and just hand me over. I'll knock her out with Confuse Ray when she gets close enough." She muttered back at top speed. I just barely got the "hand me over" part, and couldn't believe her.

"You nuts? She's going to kill you!"

"She's also got her Pikachu Bolt, but she doesn't have it out. I could knock her out right now. Trust me."

I couldn't think of a better plan in such a short time, and ended up agreeing with her, dangerous as this may be.I exhaled quietly, and uttered a quick "Fine." and a nod to her. Maria closed her eyes to make her look more like a ball than an animal (other than wisps of pink hair here and there, she could have passed as an actual volleyball if she wasn't so light.) I stopped walking and turned around. The girl's clean face was facing right at me, and I jumped back at how close she was.

"Gah! Just...step back a bit, alright? You scared me! I'll give her-it, fine!" I quickly corrected myself. I couldn't afford to screw up here. I extended my arms behind me towards the girl and she smiled in satisfaction. She reached her hands out to take Maria from mine.

"Thanks, I could use one of these." That was the last thing that came from her mouth before a small gasp. I couldn't see exactly what was going on, but like at the mall, the girl's face was showered with a purple light, and in a few seconds, she had the same 'derp' face as the sisters Maria performed the move on the first time. Her arms dropped to her sides, and let go of Maria who floated back to me. I wondered anxiously how getting a Confuse Ray would feel.

_Not so fun, I'm sure. _Maria looked at me with a proud smile I couldn't help but return. "See, I told you I could take care of it!"

"Congrats! But now..." I looked past her. The girl was teetering back and forth like a Spinda, complete with a faint trace of drool off her mouth, and with the road so close to the sidewalk I was scared that she could end up as roadkill, completely oblivious to what's going on. "We can't just leave her like that. She's going to get hurt." I put on a sheepish smile.

"What? She tried to attack us, and you want to help her?" Maria screamed at me. I grinned even more awkwardly.

"Look, you can keep using Confuse Ray to keep her...like this, and I'll just lead her back to my place, it's closer than Nio's at this point." I explained to her. The plan was risky, but I can't digest the fact of leaving a little girl like this in the open.

"You're such a sucker." She complained, and hovered beside her at eye-level. "I better get something for this. This is going to be exhausting!"

I couldn't help but laugh at her reluctance. "Don't worry about that, just keep her like this until we get back home." I carefully slung one of her arms around my shoulders and pulled her forward, feeling like an escort for a man who had one too many drinks. I frowned as the situation slowly sunk in:

_Now how the hell am I supposed to explain bringing home a girl like this?_

_..._

**(Edited: Feb. 18, 2013)**


	26. Tasha

John's POV

"Why did she act like that?" My mom was beside me, and she was staring at the girl on my bed. It took a few minutes of shocked looks, gasps, and explanations, but I eventually made up a good cover story for her. My family didn't have to know she was a player.

"I don't know. I guess that she thought she was asking for money or thought Maria was something she could pawn like a volleyball. Makes sense, she was covered in bandages." I explained to her. I was amazed that I could pull of the lie so well. Just minutes ago, I was dragging the girl to my room. And now, she's fallen asleep on my bed.

"Makes you think why she wanted a half-wrapped volleyball instead of money from you. You _didn't_ have any on you?" my mom asked back, the fear in her voice still somewhat present.

"No, no. I just told her that I didn't have cash on me. But God knows what I would have done if she wanted to fight me. I couldn't fight a girl, at least someone younger than me!" I told her, and she and Maria laughed beside me.

"I guess I'll just leave you two alone. It might scare her if she saw an adult, and I don't need lies from her as explanation. You made sure she's safe, so I don't see why you shouldn't be able to handle her. I'll be downstairs, if I hear any loud noises, I'll be up in a jiffy, okay?" She turned around and headed to the door.

"That sounds good, thanks." She opened the door and left Maria and I alone.

"Man, is she trusting." Maria commented. I smiled at her, and reached for my chair to plant myself in. She hovered over and landed on my head like she always did. Her bandages were taken off before we arrived at my house, to avoid extra questioning. Besides, she was healed enough without them.

"That's why I like mom. But anyways, I'm surprised this girl, Tasha, or whoever she is, didn't threaten me in the least." I continued to stare at her clean face, wondering how such a young girl could act so violent. "She had her Pikachu, and a knife in her pocket, so why didn't she use them?" I looked behind me, staring at the aforementioned knife and Pokeball, careful not to press the button in its middle. I managed to sneak them out of her pockets as I was leading her home, and the knife scared me the most. A simple switchblade, red handle, a small blade about 5 inches long. But ever since Eglington, I've had a slight fear of sharp objects in general, from kitchen knives to razors for shaving. I couldn't help but twinge a little when I saw them. I shivered at the memory of the knife slicing my skin, and I shook the thoughts away.

"Maybe she's just that stupid?" Maria asked above me with a skeptical tone. "Thug or not, she's still an adolescent. Maybe she didn't think the whole plan through? That she found us by sheer luck?"

"That's a nice possibility." I praised her. That was a logical answer, and I was surprised to hear such a response from her usual snarky self. "But maybe she was trying to get friendly with me, just so she could get close enough to take you. Who doesn't want something useless as a ripped-up volleyball like you?"

"Ha ha, very funny." She retorted. She turned around to look at the table, and I followed her eyes back to the knife. "What're you going to do when she wakes up? I doubt she's going to cooperate."

"I'm sure she won't. But I won't force her to talk, if that's what you're thinking." I spat out, disgusted at the idea of threatening a younger girl like that. I couldn't do it if I tried. "But if she's not giving me what I want, I won't give her what she wants." I stared at the Pokeball containing her Pikachu, Bolt if I remember right. I always thought Pikachus were cute, but after what Jess told me with her and Maria, I doubted the thought.

_Pokemon are animals, just like me, dogs, cats, but they certainly weren't meant to be pets._

"By the way, I want to ask you something, just about this thing you do." I looked up and saw her red-and-yellow eyes look back, making me blush just the slightest, but not enough to make me turn away.

"About what?"

"About this..._thing._" I started, and from her frown, I realized I had to correct my words. "I mean, you sitting on my head and all. No offense, but you've been perching on my head whenever you please. Why? Do you like the shampoo or something?"

She looked at the ceiling for a minute, and made some of the weirdest faces I've ever seen her with to come up and think of a reason. I had to resist smiling, or she would just get mad again. "Uhh...I don't know. I just...like your hair?"

"Thanks for the compliment, but I want a definite answer. I searched up that Misdreavus like to pull on people's hair, but you've been resting on mine more than pulling on it." I leaned on the chair, and Maria took off from my head like a plane on a track and into the air. "Remember that dream you had, about the house burning, and I had a similar one? Maybe you got your dream from sitting on my head too much?" I joked out, but this was a serious theory, and I didn't want her to be suspicious of me _too_ much.

She gave a cute giggle, and gave what can only be described as a smug smirk at me. "What, you think I somehow got my dream from absorbing your memories, or something crazy like that?"

"Have you ever heard of Dream Eater?" When she shook her head, I turned back to the table and glared at the switchblade for a while. "A move does exactly what it sounds like. I don't know how, but the Pokemon eat the dreams of sleeping Pokemon. I'm assuming a Pokemon's brain work just like a person's, and people have dreams all the time, even if we can't remember them or see our dreams during sleep. Dream Eater's a Ghost-type move, so it's very possible you're doing something similar, if not the move itself." I picked up the knife, and pressed the trigger, giving off a rather loud **CHK!**

"Wait, so you're thinking that, every time I've been on your head, I've been using this...Dream Eater and that the nightmare was just a repercussion of it?" She was sounding more and more annoyed, and she looked at me with bored eyes, but her voice was nothing like them.

"Well said, although in this case, it's more of a Memory Eater." I muttered shortly, and tried to see my reflection on the grey stainless steel of the blade. "Nio's from the Pokemon world, and Alex too. I'd like to ask them, but I can't right now. They would know a lot more about actual Pokemon than the games would tell me, that's for sure."

"I don't see what this has to do with the situation. Why do you want to know all this, anyways?" She asked as she landed on a stack of books on the table.

"Why, aren't you curious about how you might have been using a new move all this time?" I teased her, knowing how she wanted to become stronger for both of us during the beginning of the game. "Getting stronger isn't just about training, or getting into fights."

After hearing a sarcastic "Hmph!" I grinned at her attitude. "Okay, it mostly does, but we need to know exactly what you can do before you can get strong properly, and the Internet can only provide so much information on _live_ Pokemon instead of ones in a game. Didn't you say, back in your second day, that you wanted to get stronger so you could protect me?"

Maria opened her mouth, but nothing came out of it. She was gaping and closing it like fish before she gave an irritated "Fine!"

I continued to look at her after her agreement, and she was trying her best to look like she didn't care, but she just kept avoiding eye contact with me, and I kept trying to stare into her eyes.

_They really are pretty now that I look at them more closely. I need her more like this, more submissive, obedient, cute._

I smiled at her shyness and saw her face turn a darker shade of purple. I smiled even wider at this, and devised a plot to get a reaction out of her-it's been a while since I've got a laugh from her, and she's been getting a laugh between me and my "girlfriends" it would be nice to get some payback. "How about this idea, about your Dream Eater?"

"Wha, what?" She said nervously.

I poked the prolonged tip of the knife with my finger before closing it back into its handle. "Maybe you used your Dream Eater on me when we're both asleep."

She looked confused, and I added more details as I put the knife down on the table. "Our first night, remember? Together? In the same bed?"

She had a blank face for a few seconds, and all the while I saw her face get brighter as she got my meaning. "Oh...oh!" I could tell she reached my idea's conclusion, because her face was the reddest it could get, which sadly, wasn't saying much, just made her look a shade of purple darker with her skin. It wasn't more about the idea of her using the move, as much as it about reminding her of that first night. Her shock was quickly replaced by anger, but I could see her trying to keep it together. "Oh, you...you...!"

"I...what?" I pressed her, giving her the same smug look she gave me earlier, waiting to see what she was going to do to me. I should have known better, however, that she was fully capable of using damaging moves at this point of growth, but I was laughing too hard to care at the moment.

"You..." Before she would talk, she turned her head to the wall, but I could hear the slightest of sounds from her, coming in the form of "...perv."

I quickly grabbed her and pulled her in. "Oh come on, I'm kidding, I'm kidding." I rubbed her hair to calm her down. She struggled and complained a bit, but she settled in nicely after a few shakes.

But I wasn't satisfied. I was curious to see how Ghost-types like her were like in their sensory department_,_ if you catch my drift. I started to move my hands from her hair and slowly to her sides. It was a nice change from her cold pink bangs to her warm skin. I never had a chance to touch her like this. Just my fingers were enough to get a reaction from her-a soft, quiet sigh. She was shaking in my hands, telling me I was on the right track, and I could hear giggles under her breath. I smirked behind her, and slipped a finger under the hem of her skirt-like torso. This yielded the biggest reaction-she was shaking in my arms and laughing out "Hey that tickles! S-stop!" in a silly way, smiling the biggest smile I've seen her with yet.

_Dear God, I don't know if I'm like a parent tickling his child or a voyeur raping a woman into submission. Right now, I'm feeling like the latter._

I stopped my hands, and washed my face of any trace of the smile I sported. That thought was a very effective turn-off (not that I had a turn-on, mind you!) and I tried to sneak my hands into my pockets without letting her know what was up.

"Aww, why'd you stop?" Maria whined below me. I wanted to stare at the walls of the room forever at the moment, but I looked down at her. She was smiling again, and her stare made me tingle on the inside.

"You told me to stop, so I stopped." I admitted hurriedly, wanting to get the issue dropped. I still couldn't look her in the eye. But she wouldn't take that. "What? Does 'stop' means 'go' to you now?"

"Oh, come on." She nudged me, making me squirm on the inside even more. "Jess told me that you were too insecure about stuff like this, and you were doing so well!"

"Doing so well at what?" I asked her, almost disgusted by myself for the implications at the statement.

Maria took a moment, and brightened up in a millisecond. "Well, making you more comfortable around me and, just women in general."

I let out a dry laugh at this explanation, but I was really hoping to drop the conversation as soon as I could. "Jess told you to do that? No thanks. I'm fine with women. I got you, Jess, Kari, Mitsune. My female-related lifestyle's rather successful, in my opinion. It's just that..."

Here's the part I was hesitating to commit to. I hated being subtle, hell, I sucked at it, but looking at those eyes made me want to partly tell the truth and the other part was wanting to run out of the room, so I was stuck with the compromise of remaining seated in the chair.

"He's afraid that he's harassing you."

Maria flew into the air like a jet while I actually jumped in my seat (something I thought impossible without using legs; I somehow managed to gain some air by jumping with my butt, if that made any sense!) in shock. Either way, we were shaking our heads in the air to find the source of whatever made that noise. I was on my feet and it wasn't long before I found the speaker: the girl lying on my bed.

She didn't have a smile as she spoke, but had her head turned to us as she lied on the bed. She looked tired and most of all, bored. "What, am I wrong?"

I gave a defeated sigh as I sat back down, and Maria landed on the table. "How long have you been up?"

"When I heard about the fact that you spent the night with that ghost, you pervert."

"Ouch, that hurts." I tried to be honest, but my voice sounded too sarcastic right now. I decided to see if I could get something out of her instead. "But why should I take advice from someone like you? You attacked a human and a Pokemon out of the blue, if I heard it right. What, you a stalker as well as a player?"

"Shut up!" She practically roared the words out, and I gripped the chair harder, feeling my skin prickle in fear from her outburst. "I did that for a good reason!"

"Let me guess, to win the so-called 'prize' that's offered to the winner?" Maria spoke up suddenly, and I saw her with a strong look. I was surprised she could change emotions like that. That was one of the things I couldn't understand about women. One moment they're nice and friendly, but in a second they yell at you for the minute of details awry. "Sorry, but if it means killing off friends, you're not getting it."

"The hell I'm not!" The girl threw her blanket at me, but with it so thick, and she so thin, it didn't cross the distance between the chair and bed and fell to the ground. I was busy thinking of cleaning the filthy floor and the contaminated blanket to care about the girl-she was standing up on the bed and plunged into her pockets for her Pokeball and knife.

**CHK!**

"Looking for these?" I held in front of me her Pokeball and the now-open switchblade, and had to try my best not to look smug.

The girl snarled at me, but stood her ground, looking ready to jump at me from the bed. I nervously glance at Maria beside me, and she gave me a short nod. I could only hope that she meant she got my back, because I wouldn't know how to handle a girl this crazy!

"You really are a pervert, stealing from a girl while unconscious!" She growled at me, and I gave the tiniest of smirks to show on my face.

"I ensured myself and Maria's life by doing so, although, now I'm having second thoughts. Is that a bad thing, protecting loved ones?" I sat back, and she couldn't say anything for a while. I've had arguments and debates with people all the time, especially since high school, so I hoped the situation would work out for me. "Besides, even if you _do_get out of here, kill her, and every Pokemon out there, what could you be wishing for be so worthwhile you would kill to get it?"

"Tch! You think I'm going to tell you!" Damn, the girl was pushy.

"Actually, yeah." I was naturally blunt, and it was impossible for me to sugar-coat words. "Please don't move around too much. Walking around while unconscious like you were must have been tiring. But you should be thankful I gave you a house to rest under, instead of leaving you outside." I was getting more and more irritated as the time passed, and the cause of it was the girl. Why was she so stubborn?

"I'll go back out! Just give me the Pokeball and I'll leave!" She complained, and she thrust out a hand directed at my left hand, the one holding the Pokeball. I was sorely tempted to give her the ball and kick her out the door myself, but I wanted her to keep her in here long enough so that Alex could find us. He said Light could track people down, so why isn't he here yet?

"You sick _bitch!_"

I stopped breathing and thought at the intensity of the voice thought Alex was at the door. But it was Maria.

And she was _pissed_.

"What the hell's wrong with you!" Maria was whispering her words, but they left such an impression on both of us that I was scared that her words might actually cut me in half. "We took you in for shelter, and John was caring enough to let you lie on _his_ bed, and you haven't said a single 'thank you'?" I could actually feel heat emanating from her, and was afraid at the thought of her releasing a fire-type move in the room.

"You engaged us first, but we let you live. _I_ let you live after you came up on us to take me away from John! You could have been killed if it weren't for us!" Her voice got louder until the crescendo reached a full-out howl. I remained petrified on my seat as I looked at the girl. She was still standing on the bed, but her face was steeled and pale, as if it was a wax mask instead of skin and flesh.

I was getting anxious. The girl was still a kid, and if she broke down right now, I wouldn't know what to do. And sooner or later, mom will come back up, think I made her cry, and give me the lecture of a lifetime on the treatment of guests as well as girls. "Uh, Mari-"

"John!"

"Yes!" I instantly perked up on my seat, awake more than ever.

"I'm going to Nio's and tell him Tasha's here!" With that, she blazed out of the room out the window, turning invisible while doing so.

Leaving me with the half-broken girl on my bed.

With great effort, I tore my gaze from the window and turned to her. She didn't turn her head at all, and instead, glued her eyes to the air Maria was at just a second ago. After a few seconds however, her legs seemed to give away as she fell to the bed, still upright. She brought up a hand to her mouth and I could see her hand shaking like mad. Not just her hands but her legs, and head.

_Oh crap! She's going to snap! _"Uh, Tasha?" I used her name, hoping it would calm her down a little.

Her head gave a jolt in my direction, and I saw a tear make a line down her left eye, the one that had a scar above it. She must have noticed its presence, because she immediately darted to the blanket on the ground, making me jump back hugging my chair in fright, and practically constricted her entire body with it, making it look like a cocoon made of cloth.

I took a few shallow breaths, and realized what just happened. I saw the wrapped ball stay perfectly still, and I was afraid she might accidentally suffocate in it. I reached out to pet her like a scared kid petting an intimidating pug, but I couldn't reach.

_What am I, nine?_ I slowly got off of my chair, still supporting myself with it, and took a step forward.

Automatically, I jerked my left foot from the floor, giving out an instinctive "Urhk!" of pain. I gingerly stumbled back and sat on the chair to check what happened to my foot. A small cut about a quarter of a centimeter, surrounded in deep red, was made on the middle of my sole. It was bleeding surprisingly fast, and the stinging pain remained, if not stronger than ever.

I pressed my right thumb on it to keep it from pooling up blood, and I looked down to see what cut me-the switchblade.

_What! How did...when did I drop it? _It wasn't long before the scene began to replay in my head. Maria left the room, we were paralyzed, and I was so frightened of Maria and at the thought of my mom coming in the room that I didn't notice the knife slipping out of my fingers.

_It wasn't me that scared her; it was the knife hitting the floor..._

Not too soon, I heard steps outside the room, and the door opened to reveal mom, carrying a plate filled with sliced melon and strawberries. "My God! What happened here?" Her eyes strayed from the curled-up girl and onto the floor. "What's a knife doing here?!"

_Shit!_

"Uh...oh! Uhh...I just found in on the ground the way here and I just picked it up!" It seemed like a reasonable excuse to harm the guest, so why not? "She wasn't hurt, though, and I just wrapped her in blankets, that's all!" I tried to laugh out the lie to make it look not casual, but the pain from my foot returned. I kept quiet about it though; I couldn't risk her confiscating her knife.

She looked ready to drop the plate out of her hands, but she quickly put it on the bed and took a few gasps of air. "Oh! Well, what you find is what you keep. But put that thing away, or she might get the wrong idea!" She ran out of the room and left us alone as before.

I closed the door shut before taking a few gasps of my own. I walked back to the chair and pulled out some tissue from a nearby box and pressed it against my wound. I looked at the plate of fruit on the bed and put it on the chair, along with the knife on the ground, clicking it back shut before placing it besides the plate. I sat down on the edge of the bed and looked at the ball before me. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. It was just like when I first met Maria. I didn't know what to do, I was afraid. But just like that time, she was completely helpless, wrapped in her shell of cloth.

_What do I do? Will talking even make the situation better?_

"Please, get up." I said weakly after coming up with nothing good. "Look, I'm...I'm sorry about how Maria acted. I didn't know she would be mad, and...now I'm just pathetic, aren't I?"

No reaction.

"You're not talking? What can I do to get you talking, or hell, a reaction? Screw it. Introductions. Maria said your name's Tasha? I'm John Evans."

No reaction.

"If you want to leave, feel free. I'm not going to stop you. You can take your knife and Pikachu back. What's his name again?"

No reaction.

_What's wrong with this girl? Is she really that down?_ "My mom got you some snacks if you want. You can have those before you leave."

"...lucky."

I froze as I heard the muffled voice, but exhaled afterwards, relieved that she was cooperating. The stinging sensation on my foot prompted me to give a proper answer. "Yes, you're lucky my mom got you something to eat, even with the trouble you made."

"I meant you're mom."

It was a bit louder this time, and I could sense anger behind it. "My mom's lucky? Come on, be more specific."

"You're lucky you have a mom to look after you." The ball squeezed even tighter, and the voice got so quiet I couldn't quite hear that last bit, but I got the meaning.

"Huh? ...Oh, oh..." I connected the dots, and the conclusion wasn't pretty, but expected. Her dirty clothes, paranoia, selfish attitude...

I didn't want to say my thoughts out loud at that point. Besides, it was all just speculation, and I didn't want to make her more depressed by rubbing the truth on her or making her victim to a false accusation. "...I'm sorry. Sorry if I said something wrong."

The air was getting thick with tension, and my clothes felt like they were suffocating me, but I resisted the urge, especially with a stranger girl in the same room. "I'm really sorry. You must have gone through a lot in your life, huh? That scar?"

No reaction.

"Before coming here, I went through hell too." I decided to chip away at her from there, see if I could get something out. This wasn't the most delicate of issues, but it was the first thing that came to mind. "First grade, I got bullied by kids almost every day. One day, I got so tired of it all, but since I couldn't possibly fight them off, and doing it would make things worse, I slashed my wrist." I semiconsciously rubbed the said wrist with my hand, sweaty from the remembrance.

That got something out-the bundle was vibrating slightly, so that I could feel it, but not see it. "I got better, but the bullies kept up the pressure on me. They heard what happened, and they got into some really big trouble. I'm surprised they didn't get expelled." I added a chuckle at the end, to add some humor, but no voice came out and the blanket stopped shaking. "For getting them in so much trouble, they gave me a nice big one on my other arm. It hurt, that was all there was. But I was scared shitless. I thought there were going to kill me. Wouldn't you, if you were in that situation?"

"I went crazy after that, literally. I don't remember much, probably because I was still I kid like you. But I _do_ remember killing one of them. I thought it was perfectly fair at the time. They tried to kill me, so I tried to kill them. Sound fair to me."

"And you know what? It still does. But now, with the game going on, that kind of idea doesn't seem too pleasant, even if it is a right thing. I almost got killed by a man with a Magmortar for just having Maria around. But I was too scared about getting the hell out of there than to think about fighting back like you did."

I paused for effect, and my one-man dialogue paid off. The blanket was shaking again, harder than ever. But I couldn't stop myself, for whatever the reason, whether to get this feeling off my chest and onto a weak girl, or just to drive the point home. Maybe both.

"I don't know if this I'm supposed to say this, but I kind of like that. A younger female standing up to an older male, completely unarmed like you were. Like I was. I wish I could be more like you. Tough, fearless. But I doubt that's ever going to happen. I just want to get out of this alive, and with the public knowing about Pokemon, that's becoming more and more unlikely."

At this point, the bundle was shaking like mad, and if I perked my ears enough, I could hear her breathing through the blanket. It was heavy, frantic, wet. I got off the bed, and kneeled on the floor, and the fear of what I just said was starting to hit me. I laid my elbows on the bed and rubbed my head, tired from my confession.

I could feel my entire face burn, and my eyes were starting to sting. Before I couldn't talk much longer, I decided to try one last time to get something other than sobs.

"Besides, I'm a boy; I could never be a girl. And I doubt I'll ever get one in my life."

Whether she gave a reaction or not, I don't think my last throw of humor did anything. My hands were covering my face from tears of my own, and I buried my head into the bed right afterwards.

_Looks like Maria was right. I do need to be around women more._

...

**(Edited: Feb. 18, 2013)**


	27. Family Matters

John's POV

"Sooooo, you're an orphan?"

Tasha speared at a melon cube with her toothpick before she answered "Yup." with a smile.

After my little confession, Tasha was a lot more cooperative with me, and things were going smoothly from then on, aside from a few hiccups from us still weeping. She was sitting on the bed, covering her lap with the blanket, and on it, the plate of fruit. I moved my chair right beside the bed to observe her. She shyly suggested that I sit on the bed with her, but I disagreed, saying that seeing us being _too_ friendly would make Maria mad if she ever came back. She was quick to agree.

"I'm sorry, but how are you so nonchalant about this?" I asked her, slightly scared about wandering into an unwanted territory of the girl. "You grew up not even knowing what a parent is, and at an orphanage. How do you live like that?"

Surprisingly, she giggled a little, but had a small frown. "Nonchalant?"

"Huh...? Oh! Right! I'm sorry, but before I go on, how old are you?" I questioned her.

"12 years old, if my birth certificate back at the orphanage was right." She jabbed at a strawberry and slid it into her mouth, distracting me slightly from her mischief with food.

"Thanks for that. As for your question, nonchalant, means casual, like talking about a serious event as if you don't care. Something like that." I explained to her. I was stuttering a little. I never taught anyone like a teacher like this before, and it was a little embarrassing.

"Ohhhh...I get it." She said back smiling again. She got another melon from the plate. "Well, to answer your question, I guess, because I was raised so long alone that everything just came naturally." She saw my confused face, and sighed disappointedly. "Look, you've been parented for so long that you don't know what it's like to live by yourself without a roof over your head, right?"

"Uhm, I guess..."

"Exactly!" She shouted hotly, pointing her toothpick at me for no visible reason that to put me down. "Unlike you, I had to live by myself, in a shitty building filled with shitty people had fed off of shitty food there!"

_Well, that curse stream was unexpected!_

"But you said you were at an orphanage!" I protested.

"Yeah, but it was a shitty one, and I ran away because of that!"

I was torn between the thought to either laugh at her reasoning or cry at her past life. The girl's been through a lot, I admit, but better to stay home than the cruel world that awaits her. "Never thought of going back there, then?"

"Hell no!" She speared a melon with excessive force, but didn't bring it up to her mouth. "I was too young to remember the address of that damn place, and I rode train after train just to get this far. Besides, I'm more used to this..._vagrant_ lifestyle."

I scoffed at that, and she glared at me as if I made fun of her. _She knows the word 'vagrant' but not 'nonchalant'? This girl was clearly never schooled properly._

"How did you make it this far, anyways? You said you got your DS when you were at the orphanage?"

"Yeah. Everyone was treated so badly by the owner, but I know I was treated the worst because no one would adopt me. But because I got to stay in the building for so long, I know all about how our caretaker runs." She said smugly.

"Wait, runs?"

"What she does, her habits, the only thing that got in my way were new kids to the orphanage, and they were always so innocent or so not! Ugh!" She spat out her mouth like it left a bad taste, and bit into the once-forgotten melon. "From there, I stole money from the kids' allowances, Ms. Cratchit, and got enough buck to get me a copy of Pokemon Pearl and a DS, without anyone noticing, of course."

My jaws went slack after hearing this. Tasha clearly had a lot of guts, but her daring was at a whole other level. I can see why people didn't want to adopt her-she really _was, and probably still is _a thug!

"Ms. Cratchit, huh?" I repeated the name, and guessed it was the matron of the orphanage. "Let me guess-from then on, after you stole enough money from the orphanage, you ran away, and after a couple years, here you are." I chuckled when Tasha nodded vigorously, and picked at a strawberry. "No offense, but as long as you don't smoke and rob banks or crazy shit like that, I can't really see you as a delinquent." I grimaced a little when I realized I swore for the first time this girl was here. Guess she really made an impression on me.

She quickly turned angry by my comment. "What! Why not?"

I laughed some more before answering. "Sorry, sorry! But it's hard to imagine a 12-year old girl could do all that, you know?"

"No, I don't know, because I've done all the crazy shit I did and went through!" Her temper was rising, and I quickly rose up my hands in front of me to tell her to relax, even though my smile was still there. "I stole from kids! Raised Bolt from scraps, and tracked down other Pokemon to kill!"

At that last part, I dropped my smile instantly and turned to Bolt's Pokeball. It was still on the desk, next to the switchblade, but I was reminded of what that Pikachu did to Maria, Jess, and Mitsune, I was quite scared about handing back him to Tasha just yet.

I decided to assault her with another question, to keep her mind off from running away just yet. "Why do you sound like that?"

"Huh?"

"You listed your life crimes, as if you were proud of them."

"Of course I am!" That was not the answer I was expecting. "This game's the best thing that's ever happened to me! I got a friend, my only friend, we help each other, Bolt robs from stores so that both of us could feed ourselves, and we get to fight Pokemon, just like in the games and shows!"

"Is that supposed to be a good thing? Killing Pokemon to survive?"

"Hey, the less Pokemon there are around me, doesn't that mean the less threats there would be?"

She was uneducated, but she had her logic down. The more Pokemon she killed off, the higher the probability to survive by the end. Arceus wasn't very specific when he would end the game, anyways. "Ever tried to run away from fights? That's what I've been doing all this time."

"Pssh." She scoffed, and donned a sarcastic face. "What would that matter? Doesn't change the fact that people like me are coming to get us. I'm just well-prepared, more than you, anyways."

_Grrh...Maria said the same thing too and we've been in so much risk because we didn't do things her way! Damn, I can't counter that kind of argument after what I've been through!_

**DUK! DUK! DUK!**

The door suddenly opened, and Maria was behind it, her angry face still plastered but looked lighter now that she had some time off. Tasha, on the other hand, tensed up from her appearance. What else could I think off when I heard a dull **TK! **of toothpick breaking?

Tasha and I glared at her before Maria broke the silence in a deadpan voice. "Let's go to Nio's. Alex's coming with us. Both want to talk personally."

I sighed that the suffocating atmosphere's been lifted, and got up from my chair. "Alright. I'll just tell mom that we're going to walk her back. I doubt she would think twice after what we've been through. You're right; she _is _too trusting. I'll take that." I said to Tasha, and reached to grab her plate. I gave an "Urk!" when I saw it-the plate was cleared of the tiniest piece of fruit.

_How the...we've only been talking for 10 minutes! How'd she finish so fast?_

"If your thinking," Tasha broke in behind me. "how I finished eating so fast, living homeless teaches you to take whatever opportunity you get." She gave a snotty smirk, and I couldn't help but laugh at that.

Sadly, Maria didn't seem to think so; her frown just got bigger.

...

Maria's POV

Nio and Alex were sitting on a chair, the former in a pair of sweatpants and red t-shirt to go with his hair, and the latter had a black suit and pants combo. Either way, their faces showed frustration. John and that girl was sitting on the opposite side of the table, while I sat on the table itself, not sure whether to feel glad for reporting the girl or mad that she was getting closer to John.

_Damn that girl! She acted like a complete punk when we met, but now she's all touchy-grabby? What's wrong with this girl!_

Nio rubbed his temples, and Alex raised something red in his hands to the table. "Here, I'm guessing this belongs to you."

The girl Tasha, gasped at what was given to her, but weirdly, she didn't take it. "How did you find it?" came from her instead, her shock quickly replaced by suspicion.

"I found it during one of my walks. I run a charity organization, but I'm also leading our little group you see here." Nio tried to be friendly, and offered a tired but honest smile, but she didn't smile back, and he took it as a sign to continue. "Throughout the game, I've been tracking down players like you and their Pokemon so that we can advertise Pokemon in a _positive way._" The way he emphasized that last bit gave the girl the most dangerous glare I've seen.

"Well, that won't be happening anytime soon." She sneered in a _very_ sarcastic tone. "I wasn't very careful on whether to kill Pokemon outside public eye or not, anyways."

I felt sick upon hearing that, and clenched my stomach at the attitude of her. This girl, this stranger was planning on killing me like who knows how many others? I gave a silent sigh at my luck, thankful that I was able to make it _this_ far in my life.

_I need to get stronger...it was stupid of me and John to think we could run from every battle. Tasha and her Bolt's been __looking__ for battles, and look where they are now!_

"How many Pokemon did you kill, Tasha?" Alex started, and didn't sound as soft as Nio was.

"Dunno. Lost count after 10." Her sneer was gone, and a shallow frown was on her face. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't sympathizing just yet. On the contrary, it just made me feel worse.

_Damn. Her Bolt's had a lot more life-experience fighting than I did. I just trained my moves on trees and fences in the forest behind the school. I feel like avoiding her to stay out of trouble, but I just got to kick her ass for all the Pokemon she's killed!_

"And don't think I've been lazy about all this." Tasha sounded serious, and her eyes shot daggers that could easily pierce both Nio and Alex's skulls. "I've been fighting too. Muggers, players, even Pokemon. Why else would I carry this around?" She reached under the table and pulled out the knife from earlier, and the sound of it clicking into action just made me even more scared of her.

Nio, on the other hand, looked impressed. "Nice work. I could use people like you working for me."

I was stunned at what he was saying. Was he trying to encourage her? Alex and John looked just as confounded as I was. Tasha had the biggest reaction of all, her mouth open and stuttering on how to fight his words. "You, you...think that..."

"Yes." Nio just smiled widely and continued. "I can't congratulate you for killing Pokemon, valuable partners of humans, but you've done well for yourself so far." It was as if his face brightened up like a light bulb. "Fewer Pokemon means fewer complications, for the human race in general. And with people's memory of the game disappearing, there are minimal personal problems. But sorry for interrupting, what were you going to say?" He gestured to her, and we could see her straighten up on her chair, suddenly unable to talk straight, not expecting such a comment.

"Uh...uhmm...well, it's just, you think what I've been...doing...is good?" I smiled at the nervous wreck, and Alex did too. John, however, looked just as confused as ever.

"Not for me, but you did a very good job for yourself." I couldn't believe this; that man was practically spoiling her with praises, and she was eating it up! "Again, I need people like you working around. How about it?"

"What, working...for you?" She was stunned, and her jaw remained slack. I had to suppress a giggle on how stupid she looked.

"What, you don't like it? Fine by me." Nio suddenly got up from his seat and slowly walked away. "Just promise me that you won't hurt anyone you see here, and you'll be fine. And make sure that Pikachu of yours behave!" He chuckled as he reached for the door, opening it and gesturing for Tasha to come. "What, you don't want the job, anyways, right? And it's getting late."

He was right about that. The sun was setting, and the sky outside the door was becoming bright red from the setting sun. We all just sat in our chairs, waiting for either Nio or Tasha to make a move.

"Why?" Tasha started nervously, unsure of what to do. "Do you..._want_ me to leave?"

"I just needed to know why you were doing what you do, who you are, and what you did during the game. All those questions are answered, and I don't need anyone wasting my time or inconvenience others. If you want, you're free to leave now." He said indifferently, and slowly closed the door, seeing her somewhat reluctance. "Well, go on."

"Wa-wait, just a minute, alright?" She said loudly, increasing my smile at her agitation. "It's, just that, this is a lot to take in, alright?" She took a few breathers before continuing her train of thought. "So, you saying...you want me to work for you?"

"Definitely." He walked back and sat down on his chair again, looking devious with his smirk and red hair. "I won't be having you kill Pokemon, certainly, but you being able to hunt down players during the game. That's going to be very useful."

At those words, Tasha closed her mouth, and instead of looking right at him like she always did, she looked down at the ground, blocking her face from our view. "You...you really think so?" was all that came out from her, in a quiet voice at that.

"Yes." Nio decided to drop his joking tone and adopt a more serious one, and that got Tasha's attention. "Not only that, not only your Pikachu, does he have a name?"

"Bolt." Her answer was automatic, and amazingly, didn't carry a hint of her attitude. It was as if a robot gave the reply.

"Thank you. Not only Bolt, but you as well, are both very strong and experienced with tracking and incapacitating them. How are you so experienced?"

"I don't have a home to go to, no money to live off of. Bolt...steals from stores while I...steal from people." She uttered the first part with a little vigor, but the last part she sounded ashamed of, which was perfectly appropriate.

"I see. Don't worry about your criminal lifestyle. You already know a boy whose committed murder, don't you?"

I felt John tense up at those words, and I was getting hotter from my anger at both of them. How can he talk so casually about something serious as killing? How could that _bitch_ kill so many Pokemon so fast? John didn't say anything, and just like Tasha did, he just looked down at his chair.

"Don't think of yourself as the pariah here. We're all guilty of some form of offense." Nio proceeded with a familiar smirk. "But you definitely stand out the most. You're the only one we know that's been actively hunting down Pokemon. You can help me and Alex here by tracking down players to our cause. Sort of like a good cop-bad cop routine. He tried to talk them over, and if that doesn't work, you try to force them over."

"You...think that's a good idea?" Tasha asked back, somewhat gaining her deadpan back, and sitting up straight.

"Yes. So, will you do it?"

She looked anxious again, and squirmed a little in her seat. "Yeah, but...what do I do? Do I have to sign anything? I don't have a home, my parents could be dead for all I know-"

"Whoa whoa! Calm down a little." Nio interrupted. "You're a minor, an orphan. I can't get you to sign anything without parental consent, so the only thing you can do is give me your word. After that, you can come back tomorrow, and I'll tell you what you'll be doing."

"Oh!" She yelped out, and got to her feet. "Oh, uh, alright!" She walked out of the room and to the door. If she walked any faster, I wouldn't have noticed her face getting more and more crimson for some reason.

"Wait!"

The girl stopped as soon as she pulled the door open. "Uh, yes, mister...?"

"Call me Gavin, and you said you didn't have a home? Why don't you stay here?" Nio suggested, but the girl shook her head like a mad man.

"Uhh...no thank you! It's completely fine! Um, tomorrow morning?"

"Tomorrow morning."

"Great, thank you!" With that she rushed into a bow before running out the door.

...

A few completely silent moments passed by while Nio calmly limped back to the sink to get a glass of water. After what felt like a lifetime, he sat back down on his seat and remained completely unfazed at what just happened.

"What? No one else got a thing to say about my decision?"

His words, joking yet carrying a slight grim woke everyone in the room up from out drowse, and I was the first to speak up. "Do you really think that was a good thing?"

"Overall, yes." Nio said in a happy tone. But somehow, he wasn't smiling this time. "She's a wild card at this point, but if things go well and she's an obedient girl, things will go smoother once Pokemon go live."

"You mean, once people discovering Pokemon are real?" Alex joined in.

"Yes. She could turn into a very nice girl and her Pikachu could help advertise Pokemon to the people. They could do without her background, though."

John jumped into the conversation. "Don't you think you're taking the slightest advantage from her? She knows the tough world, but she's still an adolescent. And what if her parents _are_ still alive? Can't you be charged for this kind of thing?"

Nio sighed deeply before responding. "Yeah, that certainly came to mind. But...I want to give her a chance."

I was perplexed before, but now the questions just erupted from my head. "The hell do you mean 'give a chance.'?"

His didn't move an inch, but his frown somehow turned darker. "John, you said that Tasha acted like a thug, as well as her overall appearance?"

John hesitated for a second. "Well, yeah, I mean, that's the impression she gave me when she walked up on me."

"Tell me. Do you think, if she really was as thuggish as you thought of her, she would have acted like she did in front of us?"

My confusion didn't let up. "What? You think there's something deeper than that?"

"Definitely." I was starting to think 'definitely' was his favorite word. "Didn't you see how she acted, how and what she said? Instead of answering the bare minimal like any thug would, she included not just what Bolt did, but what she did. She's a runaway, and while that kind of lifestyle may seem stylish, literally free to live however you can, she's an orphan, with no one influencing her seriously."

John nodded, but still looked confused, as was I. "I get that her background does affect her personality, but what are you assessing in her?"

"She's lonely, and that's understandable, with her brought up in a poor orphanage and no public school to attend. Living on the streets is tough; I've been there when I first came to this world. I couldn't trust anyone either. That's why I sent Alex to fetch you. An adult, not old enough, but not young enough to be seen as immature was the best option."

"What, you think she would have run away, otherwise?"

"Yes. It would have been easy, armed with a knife and Pokemon, but Alex and Light's back-up was last-resort. Also, the fact she told us how she's been playing the game so seriously shows that she's willing to prove herself, especially to a higher power like me."

"So she's trying to impress you..." John muttered.

"Yes, but being all alone, she has little self-esteem, and remember how she reacted."

"Man..." I gasped out after catching onto Nio's train of thought. "I don't know whether to be amazed at your thinking or ticked that you can be so manipulative. For all we know, we're all just pawns for you for some bigger plan than just getting you home."

Peculiarly, he laughed out loud at my point. "Ha! You're right! It's good to see you're thinking for yourself, as well as for others! The worst thing that could happen to people is not only to have our bodies robbed away from us, but our minds. As long as you have the latter, you will never lose sight of yourself."

If that bravado was supposed to impress me, it wasn't working. John, on the other hand, was absorbed in the words, and spoke more interest in his tone. "But your mindset can be manipulated by even neutral forces, can't they? And if they were on a side, we wouldn't know it. We learned in history class about how dictators and totalitarians used propaganda and censorship of certain information so the masses would follow them."

I gave a baffled "Huh? What?" at the words John decided to use.

Alex popped in to answer me. "Vaguely speaking, dictators are people whose words and personal thoughts are law. You piss one off, he can declare your execution and that would be the end of that. Totalitarian means that the ruler or rulers of a country or nation can do pretty much whatever they please. Propaganda and censorship are tools used by these kinds of leaders and governments to warp information to their advantage."

I was still confused. "How can changing information be bad?"

Alex chuckled at my blankness. "You should go to school more often. The news you hear everyday, the papers, the textbooks at school, down to the fairy tales you hear from parents. They would contain biased information. How would you like it if when Pokemon are publicized, the news just talk about how disgusting and horrid they are?"

My gasp stopped midway down my throat. That possibility hit me like the tackle Bolt gave me. "Are you saying that this government, this government's utilizing this...propaganda?"

Alex raised his hands up to his chest. "No, no! Ours is democratic, which means the majority of the people decide what is best for the country. This has its downsides compared to dictatorship, definitely," I grimaced at the word 'definitely' again. "but it is the best solution the politicians have come up with."

"You sound like you have experience in both types of government, Alex." Nio interjected out of the blue.

Alex opened his mouth, but stopped himself and blinked. He closed his mouth managed to regain his sullen composure and grasped his hands together on the table. "Using the atmosphere, curiosity of bystanders and topic of discussion to target my history. Damn, I almost fell for that." After saying that, he blinked again. "Aw crap, I just said that out loud."

"Yeah, yeah you did." I pointed out, and we all laughed at the irony of the situation.

"Come on, Alex." Nio began, more insistently this time. "We've all told you our secrets and background, Why don't you?"

Alex stammered at the suggestion. "It's...it's not that easy. Well..." He got a good look at our confused faces. "It's easy to say, it's just that...it's mostly family matters back home. And telling you this would betray their trust in me, not to mention breaking some rules." He grabbed his arm with the other and squeezed it in anxiety.

"Come on, just tell us this one time, and we'll never bother you about it again." John urged on, sounding impressed when Alex mentioned rules. I was curious as well, but I doubted a Pokemon's opinions didn't matter much back where he came from. Pokemon were just wild animals and pets after all.

"Your details can be the bare minimum. We just want to know about your childhood. After that, you can be as vague as you want." Nio said this with force, and I think I saw Alex actually gulp at the words.

"Well..." He sighed. "I'm going to regret this, but might as well use this chance."

I know I shouldn't care much, but seeing Nio and John's enlightened faces made me jump for joy on the inside too. Maybe it's because I actually did care about Alex, or I was just taking in the satisfaction of seeing someone concede after trying so hard to keep a secret, or maybe it's because...John was happy?

_No no nononono! I shouldn't think like that! What would everyone think! John doesn't like me that way...does he? Well there was that time when he fought over Nio's idea of sending Pokemon back but...he's probably just thinking about treating Pokemon more fairly, not that he has something for me..._

"Where to begin..." Alex started, laughing nervously. "My parents, I can't say that I really got to know them. They didn't really care about what I did, where I went, as long as I was under their supervision. They did the bare minimal, looking after me, clothing me, feeding me, but education, relationships. I had to do it on my own."

"What kind of lifestyle is that?" John suddenly spoke up. He instantly brought a hand to his mouth. "Sorry! I didn't mean to..."

"Don't worry about it. It's past me now. Telling you this is definitely going to break rules, but I belonged a family, an organization of what Pokemon fans know as Aura Guardians."

"The heck is that?" I blurted out in confusion.

"Simply put, Aura Guardians can use a form of..._life energy_ called Aura." He explained. "Nearly anyone in this organization can use it, me being an...exception. I can use Aura, no doubt, but my family always forbade me from practicing my skills, and Aura isn't something that comes naturally to one. The closest thing that tied me with the organization 'White Crucifixion' was the Riolu egg I was given when I reached the trainer age of 14."

_White Crucifixion? They sound like religious nuts. _John leaned forward to ask a question. "Trainers start at age 14, huh. Well, it's kind of ridiculous to have 10-year old adolescents running around without supervision, isn't it?"

Both of them laughed quietly to themselves. "Yeah, if the Pokemon Association did that, no one would survive. All would-be trainers are first enrolled to Trainer Schools and until they graduate, they don't get their starter Pokemon. What's even tougher is that only a few trainers graduate annually from a single school. I'm limited on my knowledge of the outside world, but I heard that most schools use a tournament-style of graduation testing."

"Damn, that's rough. But we're straying from the original topic." Nio spoke up, sounding amused but had an irked face. "Your parents sound unnecessarily strict with you. Why's that?"

"Well...this is definitely going into forbidden territory, but let's just say that it has something to do with...my _upbringing._" Alex pursed his lips at the risk he took, and I couldn't help but not take him serioiusly.

Nio continued questioning. "Alex, how old _are_ you, really?"

Alex looked nonplussed. "I'm 22. I told John that."

"The hell you are." Nio interjected. "You expect me to believe that a mere 22-year old would be hired under the government? I know Arceus had something to do with your occupation, but you've got to have _some_ credentials backing you up. I lived in this world for years and I know how work experience is crucial for getting a job, much less a position in government. How long were you in this world Alex?"

Alex was getting scared at this point. "Uh...a few years..."

"A few years and you've adapted to the world so fast..." Nio sighed.

"Well, Arceus told me what I was going to be doing, and I was perfectly fine with his deal and I've been trying to fit in and learn as much as possible without going to school here." Alex argued angrily.

"What kind of deal did you make with him, anyways?"

"It has to do with my upbringing I told you about...and I'm not telling you about it!" He crossed his arms and had a dangerous look in his eyes. I couldn't help but act as if we just peeked into him in the bathroom, and it me a bit ashamed of myself.

John got up from his seat, and everyone knew that the conversation, and our time, was over.

...

John's POV

Days past since that night and we were in the middle of March, but I still couldn't shake that memory.

_Alex Arlon, Tasha Sing, Gavin Nio, who the hell are you people?_

I looked at my homework in front of me, but I knew that it was pointless to do them under the mental debates I had in my head. I slammed my pencil down onto the papers in front of me in frustration. "Damn it all. I can't stop thinking about what Nio said." I looked out the window and saw the still-bright blue sky, and sat quietly to myself.

_What's going to happen to us? Alex, Nio, Kari, Jess, Maria..._

I slammed the table again, and Maria came down from the attic. "Would you stop that? I'm trying to sleep here!"

"Ah! Sorry, I...just have a lot in mind." I stammered, and she floated back up.

**DING-DONG! DING-DONG!**

"What the...who's visiting this early?" Maria said out loud, and I got up from my chair. No one was home at the moment, and I ran out the room.

"Maria, stay here. If it's a stranger, they can't know about you. Got that?" I urged her.

She nodded her head, and went back into the attic. I walked down the stairs, hoping to look nice and calm at whoever was at the door. I grabbed the handle and took in what I saw.

"Hello?"

It was a Chinese man, looking about 50 years old and 6 feet tall. He had a head full of greying hair and almond eyes behind black glasses. His face was surprisingly young though, it was covered in less wrinkled than my dad's but the combination of his hair and black dress suit gave me the impression of an old but professional businessman.

For a minute, I thought he was a policeman or a secret service agent, but his rough voice and words caught me off-guard.

"Hello there. But this will be quick. Do you know where the girl Tasha Sing is? I'm her father."

...

**Another one down. I'm starting to think I'm never going to finish this fic. Ugh, that's scary thought.**

**Anyways, I'm not feeling very enthusiastic about this A/N, partly because I'll going on a school trip this week, and I won't be able to submit a chapter for this week, so that's a downer. I await your reviews, everyone!**


	28. The Paparazzi

John's POV

"...uhmmm...Tasha? Tasha Sing?"

The man in black twitched in annoyance, but kept his smile. "Yes, _that_ Tasha. I'm her father, and I've heard my daughter has been meeting with you?"

"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. On one hand, I was confused by the contradiction in Tasha's previous statement of being an orphan, and on the other hand, scared by the man's friendly yet menacing outlook. A man that looked like he belonged to the secret service coming up to me? Who wouldn't be frightened by the thought? With all the stuff I've been through in the game so far, it wasn't unlikely.

"Don't be frightened, this will be over quick." If that was supposed to calm me down, it wasn't working very well. "I just want to know where Tasha Sing is, and if you don't know, then the place you last saw her. Please, as her father, I'm desperate for any information you have." He removed his sunglasses to reveal his brown eyes, and the combination of his stern gaze and voice stunned me right there.

I just stood there face to face with this complete stranger for what felt like a few minutes. I wanted to help the man, get him back with his daughter and Tasha with her father. But something was holding me back. Some gut feeling that told me it was stupid to trust some random guy saying that he's someone's father (it _does_ sound silly when you put it that way, no?).

"Uh, the last place...I guess would be here." I said uncertainly, hoping my tone wouldn't give me away. "After I brought her here, she just left on her own."

"Tch. And here I was, thinking I would find her so soon. Don't you know to call the police when dealing with orphans like her?" The sudden aggressiveness caught me off-guard, and I felt shame in my stomach at the truth of those words. I just looked down while the stranger dug his hands into his pockets.

"Here." He pulled out a small card. "If you ever see her again, call the number. I need her back, I really do." I could see the hand around the card tense and felt even worse about my half-lie, but I still didn't trust him. I took the card with a shaky hand and read it over:

**Philip Sing  
>Eglington Rehabilitation Program<br>Manager  
>Tel) 1-905-349-2348<strong>

_Eglington..._I remember that name now. That town where I suffered daily from its school. From what was written, I took a breath of relief when the thought of its living condition was going to get better. Unfortunately, this guy was the manager! I was even more confused at who to believe now!

"Don't lose that card. Knowing Tasha, she's still around DulcetDrift here. The faster I can find her, the faster I can get back to work." With that, he put his glasses back on and turned to leave.

I took a step back in the house and closed the door. That was Maria's cue to make herself known. She hovered down the stairs and looked at my hand with the card. "Who was that?"

I read the card again, in case I misread it the first time. "Philip Sing, manager of the Eglington Rehabilitation Program." I smiled at the idea again, and Maria read my mind.

"Eglington? The town you were at last time?" She lost her curious tone a bit, and she had a wary look.

"Yeah, that place." I confirmed for her. "He's also Tasha's dad."

"Wait, what?" she said bluntly. "A dad? I thought she was an orphan? They're not _supposed_ to have parents, are they?"

"Yeah. I thought she was telling the truth last time, but he sounded serious when he said he's her father. They're both Chinese and had the same eyes, so it sounds likely."

Maria didn't look too convinced. "You don't _really _think he's her father, do you?"

I sighed in exasperation at the possibility. "At this point, I don't know what to think. He sounded real desperate to find her, any father would. But if he's her dad, than she must have a legit reason for leaving him."

"So her story was all a lie?"

I shrugged my shoulders and started walking into the kitchen, ready to cook lunch. "Possibly."

Maria didn't take too well with my answer. "Grrh...all this vagueness is pissing me off. That girl finally opened up to you, and all you got was some BS."

I began to feel uncomfortable at those words. _I told that girl my secrets, and she fed me nothing but lies?_ I gripped at my empty hands in silent anger at this, and used them to pull the refrigerator door open to start on an early lunch. Grabbing a bag of bread, ham, cheese, and a jar of strawberry jam, I laid them onto the table before opening the bag.

"Think we should visit her?" I grabbed 2 bread slices and stride over to the toaster. "We're free for the weekend, even though I still have some homework left." I smiled sheepishly while pushing down on the toaster's lever.

"Visit her? You mean at Nio's place? She doesn't have a home now, does she?" Maria asked while fetching a butter knife across the table and opening the jar of jam.

"Yeah, Nio's our best bet finding where she is. With all the free time she has as a runaway, I bet she's tracking down players right now. She would definitely be interested to hear this." While waiting for the bread to transform into toast, Maria decided to start lunch without me by taking the knife and digging out a glob of jam out the jar. After that, she did what was obvious-lick the mouthful of jam off the knife.

I grimaced a little in disgust while smirking in delight as I saw her face change. At first she smiled at the sweetness, but then her face started to sink in like when one eats a really sour candy. She started coughing at the overload of sugar, and I was laughing out loud while grabbing the now-finished toasts.

"The hell are you thinking, eating jam pure like that?" I chuckled as I juggled the piping hot bread between my hands and making my way to the table.

"Sorry! I just took a quick whiff of it and it smelled _so_ good I just had to try it!" She smiled cutely while licked her lips and shuddered. "Ugh, that was _waaay_ too sweet!"

...

After that, we walked out to get to Nio's. One slight inconvenience however; the streets, which were usually so quiet and empty, were filled with people.

The further I walked away from home, the volume of people increased. I was not used to so much people in a single street at a time. Not just me, but Maria as well. As you could imagine, everyone at a 10-feet radius was staring directly at her. Now I was really regretting not bringer her in a Pokeball. She tried to turn herself invisible, but all that did was make everyone around scream or get even closer to us, both results bad for us. Eventually, she dropped to act and just tried to stay close to me as possible while trying to look intimidating. It wasn't working.

Me, on the other hand, just ignored them and their questions as best as I could. I was used to being lonely from my school days, and pretending the talker didn't exist was easy, but with dozens of them surrounding us, my anti-social skill were put to the test. I quietly growled from my growing agitation. Was there some kind of attraction or fair near here today?

"No way..."

"_Yes_ way..."

"That can't be a Misdreavus? The Pokemon, you know?"

This was enough for my sighs to turn into a roar. "Loo-"

"**YEAH! I AM! YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?"**

Hearing that sudden outburst, I ended up with my breath stuck in my throat and coughed at the ground, clutching my stomach. Maria saw this and came close to my face. "John, hey, you alright?"

She got so close to me and her abrupt change in tone made my face heat up like a kettle. I ended up taking a step back to make some space. "Yeah, yeah!" I muttered between further coughs. "Yeah, I'm good."

**Clk!**

I flung my head up to find to source of that sound. That sound of a digital camera clicking at whatever it was pointed at. My entire body began to burn up from the embarrassment. Having people ogle at us at their leisure was bad enough, but taking pics, it was going directly from his camera to the internet in an hour.

"Fuck it." I whispered to Maria. "Let's run!"

Her nod was all the permission I needed to make a mad dash to Nio's place. I turned around and saw that all her small battles with Mac and Mitsune at the school were paying off. She started off slow, but she quickly gained speed, and in a few seconds, she gained the lead. All the way, we had people either staring or following us from behind, or both.

_Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit! This is what I get for listening to Nio's suggestion of keeping Maria out! God, I'm going to get hell for this!_

It wasn't too long through the discord of shouting, pointing fingers, faces, cameras and phones until I arrived at the familiar doorstep. I was too tired from my brief sprint to care about manners, and as a result, banged my fist onto the door instead of lightly with knuckles. After about a second of non-response from it, Maria took the hyped-up initiative and banged her head onto the door instead. Hey, she didn't have arms, she was as freaked out about this as I was, and we were running on adrenaline trying to get away from the mob. Can you blame her?

"Alright, alright, God, I'm coming!" I heard it coming behind the door among the various questions in hushed voices from the crowd behind me. The door pulled back and Nio was looking agitated to alarmed as soon as he looked at the crowd behind me.

"Damn! Come on in, quick!" That wasn't necessary-we were in before the door was half-way open. We took a few breaths, and for extra measure, he went to a couple of windows next to us and closed the curtains over them. "Mind telling me why you brought so many friends over?" I heard him sarcastically ask.

"Don't look...at me...Streets were filled...with people..." I panted out before taking my shoes off.

"Damn, man, you ran all the way here?" I looked up and saw Alex with a bottle of water, and besides him his Lucario.

"Light? What are you doing out?" Maria asked him. I can't remember the last time I saw him. Alex kept talking about how he's out scouting DulcetDrift for any suspicious activity and more importantly, Pokemon. It was rare seeing him in a house, let alone Nio's.

"Nio wanted us over to show us something." Light said in his deep voice. "He thinks that the government might be onto Alex."

"Light, I told you to call me 'Gavin' a dozen times." Nio chuckled, if not in annoyance.

"I would rather call you 'Nio' than 'Gavin'. Besides, I only call ones by the first name if they have earned my respect." Light snapped indifferently.

"Uptight canine." As uncomforting the mood was, I laughed along. Alex and Light, however, had poker faces.

"Careful, Gavin." Alex warned him. "I'll take jokes like that, but don't let Light hear them. He can get pissed real easy when I'm not around."

I stopped laughing and took a look at Light, and the atmosphere just got a bit heavier for some reason. It's true-he kept his paws to himself, but Light looked like he was going to strangle Nio despite his lack of fingers. Nio noticed this too, and lightened on the giggling. "Okay, sheesh. Lighten up."

"I'll never 'lighten up' when it comes to Alex." He said shortly, and grabbed the water bottle from Alex before chugging the rest of its contents down. After that, he walked into the kitchen to throw it away.

After such a tense moment for me, Maria struck up another small talk. "Man, what's with him?" She murmured under Light's ears.

"He's uh...he can get sensitive when it comes to me and him." Alex explained in the same hushed manner. "Hard to believe he and I could actually get along, but he's a nice guy. Just stay on his good side, and he won't Aura Sphere your ass." That was grim but a light enough warning to calm me down. "Don't worry John. Nothing's touching you while Light and I'm around."

"Yeah, we sure could have used some help dealing with the mob outside. What's that about, you know?" Maria said in a bitter tone. "They were all over us!"

"Simply put, they're from the Internet." He answered while scratching his head. "Those videos we showed you, remember them? Word's spread that the Pokemon from the Internet were from DulcetDrift."

"So what are they, tourists?" I said exasperated at such a ridiculous idea.

"Not just that. I doubt people would just come here on rumors alone. Someone's tipped them off."

"What!" I accidentally yelled out, but didn't regret it. It just showed how scared I was. Someone's purposely trying to expose us, the game, and Nio? This obviously wasn't going to end well.

"We're guessing it's the same guy that allowed this into the news." Nio grabbed a newspaper from a table practically wrapped in them. I took it and it didn't take long for the truth to sink in. The front cover had a young girl with black hair running away. On the ground next to her, a yellow Pokemon with 2 brown stripes on his back, and a red circle on each of his cheeks.

"Aw hell. That's Tasha!" Maria and I simultaneously yelled out in surprise. "Oh that's right! Speaking of which, where is she anyways?"

"She said she went to get some lunch. I offered to go with her. Hell, even lent her some money and invited her to come here, but she just flat-out refused." Alex answered, and a thought clicked in my brain.

"You don't think...she's _purposely_ getting herself caught? She could be working for the same guy who posted this!" I told them.

"That's what we thought. This paper came out yesterday, and we didn't do any kind of work that day. Tasha has a nice plan, working for the government to make nice money while advertising Pokemon, but this is not how _I _want it." Nio said irritably. "We need to know who's been letting these pics out to the public and contact him right away."

"Oh that's right!" I jumped in realization, and dug into my pockets. "Gavin, here. I got this card from some guy claiming to be Tasha's father. You think he's involved?"

Alex and Nio read over the card thoroughly, and handed it back to me when they were done. "Possibly." Alex finally answered. "I've heard of the project. Trying to fix everything wrong with Eglington. Delinquent gangs, poor housing, business."

"So, basically, everything that screwed up my life there." I finished sullenly. I looked at the card again, hoping that the project would work out. Everything that made me like I was prior to Maria was that place, and I wanted it either fixed up into shape or burned to the ground, to the last rubble. "But that aside, you think Mr. Sing got those pics of Tasha himself?"

"Definitely." Nio answered immediately. "But I've seen how Tasha works: fast and independent. I doubt she would purposely model herself for him just because he's her dad. I sure wouldn't." He passed me and Maria a glass of water, and I looked around to see where he got it and noticed that we were so busy talking that I didn't realize I was walking behind Nio as he talked. "We need Tasha to see this. Alex, you got ties to the government. Can you find out what this is about? But before that, bring Tasha here."

"Of course." With that, he ushered Light with him and went to the front door. He unlocked it and grabbed the handle, making my insides turn to rock.

"No there's still people-!"

It was too late. A collage of questions, cameras, smartphones and heads were all I saw from the entrance, and before anyone could stick their foot in the doorway, Light was quick enough to slam the door on their faces.

"Well...shit." Alex uttered after taking a breather to take in the volume of people out there. "Looks like we won't be leaving the house for a while."

"The hell you are." Nio countered. "You got to go out there and find Tasha. Your Light's the only one who can track her down."

"Wait." Maria cut them off, thinking about what Alex said last time. "Alex, you said you could use Aura, so why do you need Light? You can find her yourself."

Alex suddenly looked down and stuttered at his words. "It's true that I can control and detect Aura, to an extent. But..." He hesitated, trying to find the right words. "Light can track others way better than I can, and living in this world with people living in every corner and my cover in the government, I'm not in much position to practise. In short, it's too risky."

"Fine then." Light said. "I'll leave through the back, try to distract the mob. Alex, you use your PokeNav to find the girl. I'll divert them far away enough to get you at least an hour's head start. I'll come back here when I'm done." He started walking back into the house.

"Light wait!" But he wasn't listening. He opened the door (again, without any fingers, how does he do that?) to the backyard garden and jumped up to the roof. A second later, we heard some screaming through the front door and some scuffled feet later, not a peep was heard from behind it.

"Damn him." Alex muttered, but good-heartedly. "He thinks just because he's got the cool powers of a Pokemon he can order his trainer around."

"Well then, he must be really worried about you then." Nio commented.

"Both of us are." Alex opened the front door, and to our relief, no one was there. "I'll be back soon. God, this is one of the times I wish the PokeNavs came with a cellphone function..." and with that, he left the house.

...

"Pffft." Nio laughed as he closed the door behind Alex. "If Arceus planned to give out cellphones, too, then that would just promote people to team up instead of killing each other."

The 3 of us stayed quiet for a while, and I drank the forgotten glass of water in one go. "Do you really think Arceus set this game up just so he could kill us all?"

"I know, he sounds paranoid, but it's for good reasons." Nio answered. "I originally thought his plan was what I said earlier, get Pokemon to kill humans. But now, at this magnitude of things, people are going to start killing people. My team of scientists and builders are the only ones who know of the portal's plans. Anyone would pay billions and kill billions to get them. Was this his plan all along?"

"And despite of the dangers of going out with our Pokemon out like you suggested, we're still trying our best to lead normal lives." I continued solemnly. "Is this really a good idea? I swear, some days, I have trouble sleeping because of what can happen if we draw even more attention to ourselves. We'll be ostracized, and people would kill to get their hands on Pokemon."

"We were lucky." Nio confidently told me. "Lucky we live in such a quiet town as DulcetDrift, but now the government's going to take matters into their own hands. They'll try anything if it means securing Pokemon. I'm so sorry to drag you into this John."

"Please, Gavin." I looked away, embarrassed with this sudden honesty. I walked into the living room and grabbed chair, but didn't sit down. "I had a choice, before the game, that I could avoid this. But I took it anyways, for what? Protection from others players? To protect the world from Arceus? No, I was just caught up in the moment like a damn pre-schooler with his new toy." I gripped the wood harder, remembering that night, and realizing the idiocy of my actions.

_No, don't think like that! You took the risk, and you can't take it back now. Man up and follow through. _

"But it's too late to run away from it all, isn't it. I'm not letting go of Maria." I said with more life in my voice. I relaxed my arms, and let them fall limp down my sides. "Speaking of which..." I glanced at the said-ghost-type without moving my head. She looked petrified, but here eyes showed that she was thinking, deeply, about something. "You've been pretty quiet, Maria. You want to share _your_ thoughts on this?" I asked with a grin.

She snapped up at the sudden question. It seemed that she was used to being ignored in deep talk like this that she was in her own little world. It was amusing to see her look around and try to remember what the question that passed through one ear and out the other was. "Huh? ...Oh, oh! Oh, um, sorry, what were you saying?" She finished after failing to come up with an excuse to remember or dodge the question.

"Maria, try to stay with us. This topic involves you most of all, so I suggest you participate the most in this." Nio laughed out.

"Oh! Uh...sorry. I'm just...thinking to myself. Got carried away." was her explanation, with an abash smirk added.

"Really?" Nio said with an intrigued look. "Share with us, what were you thinking of that got you so wrapped up?"

Maria looked away to the wall, before facing back at us with a serious look. That said, I was ready for whatever possibility she had come up with. I felt Nio tense up too. "But first, Mr. Ni- I-I mean, Gavin, where's this portal you're making?"

Nio didn't move, but the gravity in his eyes was increasing. "Eglington."

"WHAT!" I screamed out again, but remembered that we were supposed to be mature about this, and shrank a little after my outburst. "I, I mean," I stammered, staring straight at Nio's indifferent gaze. "Why? Why make it there? That place has got to have the lowest Human Development Index in the country! Why there?" If this project is all about changing Eglington, than the government will find it for sure!

"It's because the living conditions are so poor I chose there." Nio answered earnestly. "You should look the town up, John. That place now has the lowest population rate in the country _because_ of its low HDI. Most of its original inhabitants now moved away, far from it. It was the perfect place to set up my project. But now..." Nio sighed. "This...Eglington Rebabilitation Program's thrown a wrench in my plans. But I can't stop now, and I definitely can't stop the government from finding out the portal. I've got it hidden, but it won't be long until they discover it." I was looking more stressed than Nio. I was unconsciously biting my nails, a habit I thought I dropped years ago.

"Well, ignoring that," Maria marched on, irritated by this shocking reveal. "Let me continue. It's mostly about this portal, anyways. What are its statistics?"

I was temporarily dazed with that question. _Statistics? What statistics?_ "Ah, you mean, its qualities?" Nio asked back happily.

"Yeah, how it works, and what it runs on."

"Well," Nio said while putting a hand to his chin. "The scale depends on its practicality, and I can't tell you the specifics, especially the scientific facts, but so far, it's about the size of this house, although the size depends on the end product. To compare..." He thought for a while in silence, thinking of a good, familiar object to compare his invention to. "Imagine this penny," he said, plunging his hands into his pants and pulling out a brown penny. "is you. That clock behind you," he pointed to said-clock, a black circular one. "is the size of the portal."

I imagined the comparison of the two round objects, and caught a glimpse of a giant, chrome machine with various wires and pipes attached to it, reaching the height of a telephone pole. "Damn..." I said in a hushed voice at what I was imagining. "Isn't that a little, big?"

"It has to be." Nio answered. "The portal's supposed to be universal, meaning anyone can traverse with it. Imagine that Onix you met, Maria." He looked at her, making her float back, startled. "That Onix, if it was alive today, would be the size of this house. I need to be able to let the Onix pass through freely. But the size is not the hard part." He pursed his lips at the attempt to explain. "The portal will run mostly on an extreme voltage to turn it on, but to keep it going, stable, it needs...something _more_."

"More, like what?" Maria asked in a hushed voice.

Nio bared his teeth, and he was looking startlingly similar to the couple weeks back when he was about to hit me. "Listen, no one, not even Alex, not even my scientists, know about this part of the portal. It runs on something that even _I_ don't understand, but I know it works...somehow."

"How do you know that?" was the obvious question for this statement.

"Arceus told me, before he sent me to this world, the part that my portal was lacking before. He told me how to use this, but...it's a...desperate attempt, at best." He confessed, albeit grudgingly, as I could see him balling his hands. He looked up from his fist to us, and to my surprise, a look of begging was on it. "Please understand, John, if I don't want to divulge this information to anyone, at least just yet. It's...if word gets out of this, then-"

**TAP!-TAP!-TAP!-TAP!**

The noise was soft, but alarming enough for us to perk our head into the air. It didn't take long to find the source; I looked to my left and saw a Lucario by the back door, tapping on the glass window with his steel spikes.

_Wait, Light? He's back? That means-_

**DING-DONG! DING-DONG!**

Every one of us jumped at the sound, and Maria actually yelped "EEEK!" at the doorbell. I, being the one closest to the door, reached it and pulled it open, revealing the black-haired Tasha and Alex right behind him.

"Alex told me what's going on. And let me tell you right now, I can't, I repeat, I _can't_ go back to him." She said before any one of us could utter a word. We just stood there stunned at what she was talking about until Maria broke the silence.

"The hell are you talking about?" She asked rudely. "We didn't even say anything."

"What I'm talking about," Tasha answered with equal disrespect. "is that I'm not going back to this Philip guy."

"Going back? So you _are _his daughter?" Alex asked, closing the door behind him as the pair took off their shoes. Light saw this through the window and took it as a sign to get in himself. He opened the door and walked in the house, closing it behind him along with the curtains.

Tasha snarled at her screw-up, but nothing can be done about it now. "Yes." She growled under her breath. "But that bastard, that good-for-nothing, believe when I say all these things because they're true! He only wants me back because of the publicity I get him!"

"You mean this?" Nio walked across to the table and got the newspaper. He opened it to the front page, and instantaneously, Tasha was pointing at it like a kid pointing at a toy behind the counter.

"Yeah that!" she practically screamed out. "That's the last pic he took from me before I left him! And by left, I mean running away from him while he thought I would stay _in_ the street block!"

While Nio and Alex continued to question her, I was busy trying to collect my thoughts. All these inquiries and their responses were too much more me to handle at once. But as much as I wanted to tell them to slow down to keep my head from spinning, I didn't want to interrupt their interrogation. They needed answers, and they were getting it. I'm surprised Tasha wasn't just annoyed with this, but had a smile!

_Just how much information was this girl holding back?_

...

The next day, Alex told us what he and Nio planned together last night. He said he would find Mr. Sing personally and spend the rest of the day digging up information about the rehabilitation program.

"Is that a good idea?" I asked him around the table. "Light said something about the government, including Mr. Sing getting fishy with you. Is it wise to be so aggressive?"

"There's no other way. We're running short on time, and I might get some opportunities to know him better, most importantly, how his daughter's involved in all this." Alex answered.

"Wait, you think actually using his daughter to...what, advertise this project?" I said incredulously.

"Yes." Nio answered for Alex. "After the rehabilitation, he needs to fill the town with people, and what better to attract attention than Pokemon? Don't worry about the girl, though. Tasha promised not to rat us out, in exchange for our promise to not rat _her_ out."

And that was that. Hearing such a risky plan from him, that takes some serious guts. He's got a lot weighing down on him. The game, Pokemon's lives, the portal. How's he going to make it out of this alive?

All of this was too much for me, and I felt so _damn_ helpless! I gripped my pencil so hard I could see cracks in the yellow paint, signifying its brittleness. As desperate as I was, wanting to do something with this matter, I couldn't think of anything, and this time, instead of slamming down on the table, I got up and threw the pillow on the bed at the wall. It took everything I had to keep my stress to a growl as I felt my skin prickle at the gravity of the situation.

"Woah, you're looking pissed." Maria joked, coming down from the attic. "What's with you? It can't be just your homework, is it?"

"Well, it's just that with the media attracting more and more people, there's bound to be a time when everyone's going to start thinking we're celebrities. That means we're going to become prime targets for the government. _That's _when we're going to be hunted down by people instead of Pokemon." I said to her, still fuming.

"I know, but that's why we got to stay low." Maria caught the grim in the air, and came closer, not looking away from me. "John, just try to calm down. Don't kill yourself over this."

As basic as those words were, they did a pretty good job of doing just that. I took a few more deep breaths and my face started to cool down. "Thanks. I needed that." With nothing more, I didn't know what came over me, but I wrapped my arms around her in an embrace. This was rather embarrassing, but thankfully, no one was watching, and we took our time just staying togeth-

**DING-DONG! DING-DONG!**

I immediately broke apart from her, and while she _did_ look a little pissed, the arrival of a guest was more important. Before anyone could respond, I was dashing down the stairs to reach the door first. Luckily everyone was on the second floor, and the staircase was closest to my room. I grabbed the handle and opened the door to reveal...Tasha.

She was the last person I expected to see, but what came from her mouth was something I _never _expected to hear from her.

"Listen, I may be interrupting, but I need to ask a favor: can I crash in here for a while?"

...

**Whew, chapter 30 up! This took me a fair share of my weekend, enough to screw up my schedule with homework, that's for sure!**

**Anyway, you know the drill-read, and review on what you've read, and tell me what you expect to see next time! (a lot of things, now that Tasha's staying with John, of course!)**


	29. Kidnapped!

Alex's POV

_So...this guy...he's the reason that girl and Pikachu's so abused? And she ran away at that. And now he's butting his nose in my chance at going back home. Damn..._

The man in question, Philip Sing, was right in front of me, organizing his files as he got ready to leave the office for the night. During so, he was trying his best to answer my questions as vaguely as possible. He confirmed everything Tasha told us about him yesterday as true, sans anything regarding his business with Pokemon, but with him, he was more specific.

"...and when I say renovation, I mean sweeping the entire town for any flaws and replacing them entirely. The whole point of this project is to attract as many people back to Eglington. If you want to know more, check the pamphlets on the way out. We also a website with specifics if you need them. Learn from what you have before consulting the source directly please. Excuse me" he said chastely, and I got out of his way for the door.

_Damn. I'm all this is good and all, but I already know everything down to the letter from the site and the pamphlets! I need to know more about him personally...especially about what he knows about his daughter, and her Pikachu..._

_Well, if that's the case, you can always beat the information out. You__are__an ex-Aura Guardian, and you're tougher than any human can be. Also you can just kill him and..._

No, no! Absolutely not! No way can I do that, especially in this situation! I got a name as a government official, and even if I do that with no witnesses or evidence, it would attract a lot of unnecessary attention to me and Nio, and that was the last thing I needed.

I decided to be more aggressive about this, and took a leap. "I'm sorry to bother you about something so trivial as the project, but...I heard about your daughter. She's missing right?"

He gave no reaction, but he said something that caught me off-guard. "Don't think of this project as trivial, Mr. Arlon. This project is just the beginning. It only matters if things go exactly as planned. As for my daughter," his voice took a lighter turn. "While I may be looking for her, she can come home whenever she wants to."

I was lucky he was facing the door instead of me, because my jaws opened in surprise at the answer. "What do you mean? Don't you care about her?"

"Of course I do." He said while marching to the door, me right behind. "I know my daughter's in this town, somewhere, and she knows I'm here as well. But I'm sure she's getting tired of all this running away. Young girls like her never learn until they've suffered the cruel world for what it is at least once. Every time I tried to grab a hold of her, she just finds new ways to escape. I'm just waiting for that moment when the whole world crashes on her, and then, she'll be _begging_ to come back."

I couldn't keep my mouth closed as I heard his row. I kept close to him, digesting every word that came, but that just made my stomach sink deep and deeper. That was low. A very low blow to get her back. Chasing her down while she's suffering in homelessness just to get away from him. But she's a tough girl, and with her assisting her, she won't be caving in for long.

But I still couldn't believe what lengths he would do to get his hands on her, and especially her Pikachu.

"Well, then, sorry to bother you. But just out of curiosity, what phase are you at, in the rehabilitation project?" I asked him, trying to sound casual as possible.

He stopped walking and turned around, his eyes glaring. _Crap...now I tipped him off._ "Why do you want to know such _trivial_ things, Mr. Arlon?" I bit my tongue in my mouth as he redirected my words back at me. I had to think of something fast!

"Well, it's just that, I uh...have a friend who lived there, and he was almost killed in school by some thugs. I just want to know if Eglington's going to make a change for the better, you know?" I said weakly. I hoped that this got me some sympathy points from him (it's a legitimate reason, isn't it?), otherwise I'm screwed!

"I understand. Have you been through such a childhood as him? Is that why you befriended such a person?" He questioned me, turning around and continuing to walk. This time, I didn't have to make up an answer, and I could explain without having his stare on me.

"Not really. Mine was more family-related. John's was just his school. But we face similar problems. I was threatened with death too." I said, remembering how my parents, how they wouldn't even look at me, much less feed me at regular meal times, just because I was...born differently than others. And that was the least of my problems.

_More than that! Your birth parents were killed by White Crucifixion when they gave birth to you, didn't they? Because you were a monster, and your parents harboured such a monster!_

At this point I wanted to run out of the building, but that would only attract attention. I just increase the speed of my pace a little and made it to the door before Sing. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Sing." I said monotonously without looking back.

He didn't say "You're welcome", which was good for me, who was hurrying to get back home. I walked back home quickly as I could, striding me feet instead of running to keep my composure.

_Oh, don't be so grumpy!_The voice in my head-no, my soul-laughed at me. _But what the hell was that? Letting a high-priority target get away like that! You could have killed him, taken his information by force, and get him out of the equation, and that would stop any noses sniffing out Nio's portal. That's the most important thing._

_Why won't you accept my help? Everything would be so much easier-_

"Shut up!" I said aloud, even though it was unnecessary. The voice originated from my soul, so there was no need, but I had to get my point across. Luckily, it was late at night, so no one was around looking at me talking to myself. "You're the reason why I'm a monster, why I've been so hated! But when I get back home, you won't be a problem to me anymore." I rubbed my shoulder, where Morris managed to get a clean shot through my shoulder at the mall. While it was due to this voice in my soul that I healed so quickly, it was the reason why I was so horrified back home.

_Yeah right!_The voice kept egging on. _Arceus is the only one would can remove me from you, my host, and I don't think he would keep his end of the deal if you don't kill Nio soon._

My feet stopped midway through a step, and I thought the idea over. That was the deal. I kill Nio, and Arceus gets rid of this...this _monster_ in me. But I still need to secure way a back home. And if this portal actually works, then I need to know more about it.

"Besides...I need to send Light back home, at least."

_Ahh, but isn't he your only friend? He's been with you ever since, taking care of you, being your first Pokemon, hell, the only one who really ever loved you, and keeping__me__in check. You sure that's a good idea? What would you do after all this is over?_

"I do." and I continued walking. "He's getting too old for battling with, and when he dies, I want to bury him back home with the other Lucario that worked with Aura Guardians. He deserves that much of an honour, after all he's done for me."

"And after all this, I'm taking you to the grave with me, Virus." I promised it, balling my hands in my pockets as I walked through the laughter in my head.

_Sounds like a plan. Can't wait to see how it turns out!_

...

Maria's POV

I couldn't believe it at first, but after Tasha talked it over and explained herself to John's parents, it was understandable, her situation. But I didn't like it one bit. Apparently, her father's been sending more and more people to look for her, including himself. And with the number of eyes watching the people outside, it's become impossible for her to live alone in peace outside, and she decided to take shelter.

"Why don't you go live with Nio or Alex?" I asked her.

"No." She shook hers. "If he finds out about this, he'll just kick me out to save himself."

"That's ridiculous." John said. "Mr. Arlon's a nice man, he's helping to keep all of this Pokemon business hushed up."

"That's not happening." Tasha countered with surprising volume, just below a scream. "Didn't you see all those videos surfing the web? Every one of them's real! Even if no one talks about it, they still know! Anyways, I'm going off-topic. Nio's a no-go, because I do _not_want some old guy taking pity on me and treating me like a kid!" she said with a pout.

"You _are_ a kid." John pointed out, a slick smirk on his face.

"Shut up!"

John's parents, though, were a lot harder to convince. They wanted a legitimate reason to why she's visiting us. She must have been an expert on lying, because she simply said that her parents were having a big fight and ran away, and was looking for a place to stay for the night.

"Oh, you poor girl." Helen cooed, looking as if she was ready to hug her right then. "Of course you can stay the night."

"But only for today. As soon as you wake up, I'm expecting you to leave." Chris barked next to her.

Helen looked scandalous. "Oh honey, please! She's just staying for a night, don't be so hard on her!"

And that was that, and while Chris and Helen were finishing dinner and arguing amongst themselves about Tasha's stay here, we made it upstairs to John's and did thought of the obvious:

"Who's sleeping on the bed?" I asked in a deadpan voice. This would have been a great time for a laugh, but I held back because my brain was too busy thinking. If John was as polite as he was to me, than naturally, he would offer the bed to Tasha and he would sleep on the floor. But if Tasha decided to get assertive with John, than _somehow_ wouldn't she get John to sleep with her _on the same bed?_

_No way! No no no no no! John's not that type of guy! At least...I don't__think_ _he is. But who the hell knows what she's been doing with John ever since I left the 2 of them in the room to find Nio and Alex! ...Now that I think about it, I could have just called them! Oh wait, John has them in his PokeNav, not me, and I was so angry at her that I just flew out the door! Damn, I'm dumb..._

While I was busy planting myself on the table to get a hold of myself, I heard John speak. "You sleep on the bed. I'll sleep downstairs."

Both Tasha and I yelped out "Hah?" at this. "What's wrong? I'm not saying that I thought we were going to sleep on the same bed or anything, but...why the couch? Why don't you just sleep on the floor? You can just lay down some blankets and sleep here."

"Okay, first off, no, I'm not laying down clean blankets on a permanently dirty floor like mine" I gave a loud "Ugh" in disgust when I heard that. Thankfully, I don't think I ever touched the floor. "and second, the floor's too hard, so I won't be able to sleep. The couch downstairs on the other hand, is perfect."

"Oh." Tasha said with a disheartened tone. "Uh, okay then."

"Now excuse me, but I'll be taking this." John said happily, and took the blanket on the bed. "There's more in the closet there." He said, pointing to the door on the other side of the room, exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Leaving Tasha and I alone.

_Wait, what I am thinking! It shouldn't be like this! I should be together with John, while that girl should be downstairs instead! No way am I letting this go!_

"Soooo, I guess _we're_ sleeping together?" Tasha asked reluctantly.

I was in no emotional state to answer her gently. "Sleeping? Yes. Together? No. Just sleep by yourself. I'm going to talk with John about this."

And with any further words spoken, I phased through the door and left Tasha alone.

...

"John, you there?" I whispered into the dimly lit living room. It was night time, and I could see fine in the dark, so making my way through was easy. John was on the orange couch, lying down wrapped in the blanket, but even with the dark outside and lights turned off, he had his eyes open.

"Wh-what? Who's there?" He asked alertly, as if expecting an attack, and shook his head everywhere. Then I realized-he can't see me in the dark.

"John, calm down, it's me." With that, he stopped shaking around and took a deep sigh.

"Don't scare me like that." I hovered over to him, and I started to feel the chill of the night for once, and shivered mid-air. John must have noticed this despite the dark, because he opened the blanket for me to land comfortably between it and...his chest.

_Oh no...it's just like my first night here. Us, in the same bed (in this case, couch) together, wrapped in a warm blanket...oh, it's making my whole body burn up!_

"Maria. You still awake?" John whispered to me, just enough for me to make out his voice. I snapped back to reality, and looked up into his face. It was surprisingly tense, definitely not how someone ready to fall asleep.

"Yeah. What's up?" I responded with equal volume, following his lead.

"It's about Tasha." I would have groaned at this, but something about how he said it caught my attention. "What do you think she's _really_here for?"

"What? You think she's here for something else?"

"Yes. Think about it. We didn't see her for days, and now all of a sudden, she comes in front of our door asking to stay here, even when she's fine about living alone. Isn't there something strange with that?" John urged on, making me see the point of it all.

"Well, it does sound a bit weird, and her excuses were weak as hell, but what do you think she's up to?"

"That's what I asked you." John gently snickered, making his chest shake and sending me up and down into the blanket, making me blush a little at my repetition. "But seriously speaking, keep an eye on her. She attacked you, Jess, and Mitsune, and she almost attacked me during her stay here last time. Sorry, but I'm having a hard time trusting her after all that."

I chuckled to myself at his timid nature. "Can you get any more paranoid? You sound like she's going to slit your throat in your sleep."

"Oh great, thanks for that visual." John remarked. He looked around, refusing to get up on the couch. "You planning on sleeping here, or would you keep an eye out in the attic?"

This caught me off-guard. Was he actually letting me sleep with him again? I've never heard him voluntarily ask that before. I don't know if he's been noticing me much, from the time at the hospital to the day we met Nio at the playground, but...maybe?

_No, no, no! Don't think like that! Don't be silly! He's just being a really good guy. Besides, I'm Pokemon, and he's human. It could never work._

"You better go upstairs, as you clearly can't make a decision on your own." John interrupted my thought. I opened my mouth to object, but nothing came out. I couldn't believe it! Here was the perfect chance for me to sleep with John (that just sounds dirty, for some reason, now that I think about it), and I let it slip by!

"Turn yourself invisible on your way up. Don't make any noise, in case you wake her up."

I kept on opening my mouth to retort, but I gave up at the loss of words and sighed. "Okay..." And with that, I got out of the blanket and turned transparent.

I went up the stairs and phased through the door. The lights were off, and I saw a lump on the bed covered in a red blanket, so I guessed Tasha was asleep already covered head to toe.

_Must have been a while since she slept on a bed. Be grateful for this, at least, Tasha._

I was careful not to make a sound like John said when I flew up to my attic. I saw my impromptu mattress, and remembered that it was just a blanket folded onto itself to act as one. I looked around and noticed for the first time just how empty it was, and how lonely I felt. I wanted John to sleep up her with me, just once, but how can he sleep in such conditions? He's not a Pokemon like me, and he wouldn't want to sleep in such cramped spaces.

_Hmm...maybe I should get a few cushions in here to liven it up a bit. An air freshener in the corners too, and maybe even lamp. It's getting pretty depressing, living in such conditions every day. I should ask for some tomorrow after Tasha leaves._

I landed on the blanket, and buried myself in its many folds, letting the furry cloth rub me all over. That was enough to get me drowsy, and I smiled at the incoming sleep falling over me.

_This is nice._

_But...I really wish I could have slept with him instead..._

...

Bmp.

_Hmm...hm? What was that?_

My question was answered for me when I heard the creaking of a door. Unfortunately, I was too tired from waking up to care much. I looked up at the window and saw white light entering from it.

_Oh, the moon, that's nice..._

_Wait, what? The moon, which means it's still night time, which means no one should be up yet, which means..._

I gave a quiet groan and I stood up in my blanket. I shook my head like a dog before realizing what was going on-Tasha.

_Ugh, what's she doing up so late? Gone to the bathroom or something (which, when I found out what it was for, I couldn't believe it! Humans do__that?__)_

I got off the blanket and phased through the attic door, and the first thing I noticed was that the bed was empty. I saw the door open, and I could see fine in the dark, but oddly, the room wasn't filled with the bathroom lights like I expected. The bathroom was right across room, so I should see light if Tasha went to the bathroom, so what was going on?

Suddenly, I heard the short but abrupt CRIK! of wood outside, making my breath stop halfway. My first thought was a burglar, and he was making sure that he didn't forget anything on the second floor. At this point, with the dark, weird noises, and the general creepy atmosphere, I was ready to hide back in the attic.

_But wait! What about John! He's still downstairs!_

The thought of a robber in the same house with John made me even more terrified of the sounds, but I had to check on whoever it was. If it was a burglar, than I could easily take him out with Confuse Ray and alert the rest of the family.

_Come on, Maria! Show them what you're made of! It's been too long since your last fight! Time the save the day...or night, in this case._

Nervously, I turned myself invisible I went out of the room, and what I saw explained it.

What you would see as a black silhouette of a person, I saw clearly as day Tasha, at the foot of the stairs. I hovered silently over to her, but not to close so that she could somehow sense me. She was on her tippy-toes, trying her best not to make a sound. Her face, however, showed a look not of fear, but a strange determination.

_What is she up to?_

Tasha continued to prowl under the dark, and dug her hands into her hoodie's pockets, pulling out a small flashlight and a small Ziploc bag, filled with what looked like green glitter, or sequins. She held the flashlight in her left hand, and turned it on. She drifted across the floor and stopped in front of the door, turning the flashlight on and off.

After a few more blinking of blinking lights, she pointed the flashlight onto the living room. The circle of light traced across the couch, until it shone onto John's face (which I thought I could see a trail of saliva across his cheek. Tasha covering her mouth with her hands helped.)She then put the flashlight on a table nearby and opened the plastic bag. The green powder glittered a bit, even with the only source of light pointing in the opposite direction. She dipped her hand into it and extracted a pinch of the powder. She then sprinkled it directly onto John's face. I could see his face twitch a little, and Tasha smiled at whatever she just did.

_What the hell are you, a witch? Turning him into a frog or something?_

Her smile, however, was quickly displaced by fear when John gave a moderate, but abrupt "ATCHOO!"

Tasha took a step back in alarm, and she ended up tripping over one of the table legs, keeping a surprising grip on the plastic bag. I would have done the same except I don't have legs, so I ended up flying into the air in my shock. Luckily, I stopped myself just in time to prevent crashing into the ceiling. I took a few gasps to calm my systems, and looked down at John and Tasha.

Tasha, instead of falling flat on her hindquarters like I expected, grabbed onto the table in the nick of time, saving herself from making a scene. However, as she regained her footing, I heard groaning from the couch and looked at John rubbing his face of the powder.

"Ugh...the hell's this? Make-up?" I heard him groan out. But not for long, Tasha hurried over and without warning and dumped the whole contents of the bag onto his face. With the excessive amount of powder on him, he took a moment to spit out most of which got in his mouth and rub it out of his eyes. He gasped for air but as fast as he emptied his mouth of the green, he fell limp.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing. John was..._dead?_

My whole body was shaking at the revelation, but my focus was not on John's still body, but Tasha.

"You...you..." I managed to whisper, but before I let out the loudest scream I could, Tasha ran out of the room.

_What the...where the hell's she going now!_

All caution gone, Tasha unlocked the front door and swung it open not caring about the sound of it creaking. Behind the door was a man in his 20s, wearing a black suit and horned glasses. He had blond hair reaching his neck and ears, but it was the figure behind that grabbed most of my attention. At first I thought it was yellow, but then I noticed that its chest was covered in a sort of brown armor, and about a metre high. It had 3 fingers on each spindly hand, one of them holding a spoon. A long yellow mustache was on his rather vulpine face below a pink star on his forehead. What surprised me the most, however, was the huge thick tail with a brown stripe on it, about the same size, but wider, as his main body.

The appearance alone was enough to send a sprawling as far as I could to the back of the room.

"Right. I saw your flashing out the door. So, the boy's ready?" the blond man said in a gruff voice. He had fatigue in his eyes and slurred his words from exhaustion. Both figures stepped in the house and looked around in the darkness.

"Yeah, he's asleep" Tasha told them, using the flashlight to guide them. I quickly hid behind the far end of the couch, hoping they wouldn't see me, even with my invisibily.

"How much of that Sleep Powder did you use, girl?" I heard a deep but clear voice ask, and I figured it was the Kadabra.

"Sorry." Tasha replied, regrettably. "I used a pinch of it each on his parents so they won't wake up, so thought a pinch would be enough, but then he sneezed, and I got scared, so I just dumped all of it on him."

"Silly girl. What a waste." The Kadabra tutted.

"Hey, come on. She got her job done, and the powder's non-toxic. Now let's go, Kilik. Telekinesis." With those words, I saw a green light emanating from above the couch, and slowly, John was levitating in mid-air enveloped in the light!

_Oh shit! This is__not__good!_

"Let's get out of here, come on." I heard the man order the Kadabra.

"Do not boss me around like that, Jobe." I heard footsteps across the room, and John's frozen body in a planking position hovered across the room, his blanket slipping off, while I just froze at the sight slack-jawed.

"A shame you can't teleport all of us back home. But even your teleporting skills have its limits." I heard Tasha talk over Kilik.

"I am still practicing. But 2 people, including myself, is the limit so far."

_What the fuck!? They're kidnapping John!_

"Hey, you told us that the kid had a Misdreavus. Where is she?" The man named Jobe asked Tasha.

I peeped above the couch and saw Tasha hesitating a bit, her hands behind her back. "She's upstairs, in the attic. Using the Sleep Powder on her would only wake her up, so I left her alone. If you're wondering about his Pokemon wristwatch thingy, then I couldn't find it in his room, that's for sure."

"Damn." Kilik cursed. "All the more reason to get out of here quicker."

And with that, I saw them sneak out of the room in silence, not muttering another word, while John's petrified body followed behind.

...

At this point, I was truly horrified at what just happened. Tasha drugged John, and she let a stranger and a Kadabra in to kidnap him! What the hell was going on! I felt weak at the thought of what was going to happen to him. With that phrase in mind, my brain was flooded with all kinds of possibilities, none of them pretty. Tortured with knives, fire, strapped to a chair helpless, threatened with death...

_No! Oh no please no! Not that! Like that'll ever happen! He's already gone through so much as a kid! Why's he got to suffer like that again!_

I didn't realize that tears were falling down when a small voice popped in my head.

_What are you doing? Crying? If you have time to cry, then go after them!_

I gasped at the harshness of the words I conceived. The voice was enough to stop my weeping, but I was hiccupping on my sobs instead this time. _But, but, but-_

_No buts! Either call for help, or go after them yourself! You saw what they did; you think they're going to stop with just this! You need to save him! _

I stopped hiccupping, and with a minute of panting, I managed to calm myself enough to talk straight. "But...but what can I do? That Kadabra's so powerful I could feel him across the room. What am I supposed to do!"

_You're supposed to protect John. You know this better than anyone._

I took a deep breath, and another.

"You're right." I finally said after a moment. I floated back up in the air. "It's risky, but John's in danger, and as his Pokemon, I need to protect him, don't I?"

_Don't you?_

"Yeah!" I reaffirmed myself. If I had hands, I would have balled them into fists and punched in the air. Suddenly, I could hear the faint noise of a car engine revving up outside.

_Damn it! They're making a run for it! Hurry!_

Immediately, I flew out of the room and out the door (closing it after exiting-those guys didn't it behind them). I turned myself invisible again, and instantly I saw the source of the noises. A long black truck, light shining down from a streetlight like a sign from the heavens, was vibrating as its engine was warming up. Behind the window, although I could barely make it out from the distance, were Tasha, and that stranger.

_So, no turning back now. You better be ready to risk your life if you're going to save John._ My conscience warned me with a playful tone. I smiled devilishly in agreement as I dashed across the road to phase through the car.

_I know, but first, I need to know where this car's going, so I can contact everyone else when I get the chance._

_Besides, I want to deal with Tasha for kidnapping John first._

...

Hot damn!

Did I get your attention? Good.

Sorry I couldn't post a new chapter in a couple weeks, but damn, I surprised myself with this one! Tasha planning a kidnapping for John, and Maria hot on their tails! I'm going to have a field day trying to come up with an explanation to top this in the next chapter!

In terms of progress to the story, I like to think that I'm about 3/5 complete. I already have a sequel going underway in my imagination, and it's turning out great! Won't tell you about it though until this fic's finished!

While I think this chapter's a step in the right direction, I can't help but feel that it's too rushed. Tasha appearing out of nowhere to kidnap John? Wasn't expecting that, were you? Neither was I, but I had to leave a cliffhanger for you readers, because with high school exams coming up at the end of the month, I need to study my ass offawayfrom the computer.

So please, during my absence, write as many reviews as you can! For the last chapter, I only got one (thank you anonymous reviewe!), and I want more. Want to guess how the ending's going to go? Write it! Thought of an OC to fit this story? Go ahead! I encourage all of you to send me your ideas, and maybe you can see them in future updates!

Thank you for all who read this bottom section! I hope you enjoyed the story so far, and as to the next chapter...expect Maria to start kicking some ass!

(edited: March 30, 2013)


	30. Welcome To Eglington

Alex's POV

I looked around to no avail. All I could see was darkness, and with only my flashlight and the occasional street light to guide the way, the walk down the street was less than enjoyable. I mean 'occasional' because every other street light had a broken bulb and wouldn't illuminate the road.

_So...this is Eglington?_

I swung my flashlight back and forth to take in the surroundings. The surrounding houses were in all but mint condition, with massive amounts of wood being exposed from the paint chipping, and the roof shingles were falling apart like cookie crumbs. All of them were also dark and gloomy in colour that I shivered at their atmosphere. To add to the ambience was the fences. Just like the houses, their paint was almost all gone and I thought I smelled mold. Sure, this place would all be patched up after the Eglington Rehabilitation Program, but this area was a ghost town.

As I walked along, I imagined trying to live here, and how long I would stay until I caved and ran away. Every shifty corner and alleyway I saw, I pictured a drug dealing kid wearing a hat and coat, or a homeless man covering himself with a cut-open box. I shivered at the thought, pitying the non-existent people on the streets. For once I felt glad that this place was being torn down.

"Good thing no one's around to see us. Right Alex?"

Instantly my body tensed at the sudden sound. After realizing who spoke up, I took a breath and calmed myself down. "Don't scare me like that. Jeez!"

Light only smiled beside me. I asked him to join me to find wherever Nio's portal was, since I faced many dangers occurring at nighttimes, and was not ready to take chances now. He would lead me there himself, but he said he had to sleep for the night. And with so many people working, constructing, and excavating during most of the days and nights, it was imperative that I find the portal as soon as possible before anyone else could.

"How can you forget about me? I am right behind you." He put on a hurt tone, but quickly chuckled silently to himself.

"It's _because_ you're behind me that I forget you. Try to make your presence known." I lectured him, continuing to walk down the street.

"I thought you said we would explore here at night to avoid being seen."

"You know what I mean!" I grumbled. I looked around some more, hoping for an indication as to where Nio might have hid his portal. "Underground, obviously, but where exactly? All we're doing is wasting time searching blindly, especially in this night."

"But the night is the only time we can come in here without suspicion. At least without any eyes this late." Light countered, his ears twitching every now and then for any nearby sounds.

"I know, but I've rarely ever lost an entire day's worth of sleep. I just want to make tonight's search worth it."

After a few more minutes of walking, I spotted a fenced area, covered in dying foliage and shrubbery so I couldn't see anything behind it. I walked over to it, and pushed the greenery out of the way, only to have the iron fence break apart and collapse.

_Rust. How long has that fence been there?_

I stepped over the metal scraps, and brushed the surrounding trees. Through all the coniferous trees, I saw a large, rectangular building, with almost every windows and doors busted open. The bare parking lot had a collage of colour chalk and the more serious spray paint gratifying the pavement. I was simply abhorred by this mistreatment of public property; I never saw a place like this back home. I kept walking forward and saw the school sign and read it:

**Eglington Public School**

_Well, at least the vandals kept the sign clean. How did John live his life here? It's a pigsty!_

"Alex!" Light gasped behind me in a surprised tone.

"I know. It's John's old school. I can see why he hated this place, it's a dump!" I joked out loud. I walked forward to the school entrance and grabbed the handle.

"No, not that! I hear a car coming!"

I swung around to face Light, and through the darkness I could see his ears twitching in concentration, and I knew he was serious. "Damn!" I looked around, trying to find a place to hide, when Light was already thinking 2 steps ahead. "This way!" He yelled at me, pointing his paw behind one of the walls of the building. It was a ridiculous attempt, and if we were caught, I had a lot of explaining to do.

But I trusted Light all my life, and I wasn't ready to doubt him now. "Got it!" I turned off my flashlight and ran behind Light's silhouette in relative silence.

After crouching behind the wall for a few moments, I had to ask though. "You sure something's coming?"

Light looked serious, but managed to crack a half-joke. "In case you haven't noticed, I _am_ a dog. With my tracking skills, I can easily notice a car coming behind a corner. I can sense them now."

So could I. A few more seconds, and I heard a car coming down the road. I could see its headlights lighting up the way, and eventually pass by the wall we were hiding behind. I clenched my teeth at the imminence of danger. If whoever was in that car decides to walk just passed the wall, then we were busted.

_Damn...who could be here at this time of night?_

Suddenly, I felt a pang in my chest, and I clutched my hand to my heart and the other to my mouth to keep quiet. The Virus was getting unruly.

_Shit...what do you want now?_

_You know, the usual...Aura to feed, souls to take, you get the gist._

_You...were you waiting for this?_

_Not at all. I'm just excited about it is all. We have 3 humans and 2 Pokemon in that vehicle, and with the cover of dark, this is the perfect opportunity to fill both our stomachs._

_You know I'm against that sort. And if I kill them, I can't get any possible information-_

_But you have me! You drain their souls, and with me, take their memories to boot!_

_No! We are not risking lives just for some information! There's too much at stake!_

_...You are impossible. Why won't you let me eat my fill for the first time in years? You've been suffering from malnutrition as well, you know._

_That's exactly why I need this portal, and it has to work! I can go home, and get rid of you afterwards!_

"Alex. Alex!"

I felt a tap on my back, making me jump again. But I didn't waste time screaming. "Sorry, Light. Just thinking about some things." I whispered to him.

He looked stern, and from his voice, angry. "That Virus acting up again? You have me, you know."

I bit my lip at this offer. Naturally, the strongest of Pokemon possesses large amounts of high-quality Aura, and Light was one of them. I was amazed when he first suggested the idea to soothe my cravings, but I always turned them down. "I know that. But we may have to fight our way here. And I need you on your best. You up for it?" I asked slyly.

"Definitely. I may be getting old, but I can still fight." He affirmed with an eager tone.

I looked ahead and saw the car's headlights were off, and I couldn't hear a thing. I got up from my crouch and walked towards the edge of the wall.

"Wait!" Light hushed at me. I took a sigh, and looked at him. "The 3 humans and 1 Pokemon Auras are gone, but 1 Pokemon is still in the vehicle."

"You can sense what Pokemon it is right?" I asked him.

He nodded. "Give me a moment..." He closed his eyes to concentrate, and when he opened his red eyes he had a weird look on his face. "Oh damn."

"What is it? What Pokemon is it?" I questioned him worriedly.

He hesitated for a moment before answering. "It is Maria. It appears that she is following those men."

My eyes opened in surprised, but narrowed as my brain was working out on an explanation for this. _Now this is getting interesting. Why would she be here, of all places? Is she with those men?_

"What do we do? Should we follow them?" Light asked apprehensively.

I opened a hand to calm him. "Just wait a bit for her to disappear. We'll catch up behind them. I need to call for help; I don't want to take chances at what's going on."

I dug into my jacket pocket and pulled out my cell phone. While dialing the number, I silently lectured myself to include a cellular app for my PokeNav.

...

Maria's POV

_Alright, I'm in the building, but now what? Just keep following where they took John? _

I phased through the doors and looked around the school lobby. There was dust everywhere, wallpaper was torn off, and picture frames of previous principles lied on the ground with broken glass everywhere. The dark scenery of it all reminded me of a scene in a horror movie I saw with John during Christmas season. Needless to say, I was shaking in my blankets half the time.

_Snap out of it girl! You're looking for John, not reminiscing about old times. Now follow Tasha before you lose them!_

Shaking myself awake, I followed down the main hallway to the noise of vague footsteps, trying to raise awareness of the setting around me. In all honesty, I was scared not because of the school or the kidnappers, but mostly because of the Pokemon. There was Bolt, Tasha's Pikachu that managed to take me and Mitsune out in the same room, and that stranger, Jobe, had a Kadabra (which I forgot his name, God I am _dumb!_), and who knows what else I might face in here, all alone to boot!

_Damn it...even if I find John, what then? Do I have to fight my way out? Can I sneak out? Should I have called Nio or Alex for back-up? No, but then I would have lost track of them, and if we wait for too long looking for them, then it might be too late! _

_Don't tell me you're regretting your decision? Now of all times?_

I groaned at the argument laid in my head. My conscious was right; now was not the time to think about what I _could _have done, but what I _can_ do now that I'm here.

_That's more like it! Now to make a left down that hallway! They're running now, you need to catch up._

I did exactly that, and saw them enter a door on the end of the hall. I turned myself invisible just to make sure I wouldn't get caught, and went through the door, revealing it to be a stairwell. On my way down, I noticed that I couldn't hear the sound of footsteps anymore, and I rushed down to the bottom of the stairs to check it out.

_Don't tell me I lost them already!_

Unfortunately, I have. I looked around, and saw no evidence of them even being here. The scary part was that here at the bottom, there wasn't even a door! I turned myself visible as if it could help me look for an explanation.

_Aw great! Don't tell me that Kadabra used Teleport or something!_

After thinking about what happened so hard, I was starting to panic. My breaths were becoming deeper, and I was searching aimlessly.

_No, calm down! Calm down...think carefully, look around you..._

I kept looking around for a sign that at least told me they were here. Nothing on the grey ceramic floor, not even their footprints, nothing on the walls-_wait, what the..._

On the white wall was a small red rectangle of metal. I looked at it closer and realized it was a fire alarm lever. I saw them planted around John's high school and lectured me on how we should never touch it. Of course, I pulled it while I was invisible, and while no one was hurt John was fast to suspect me when the sirens went off. I was so startled by the alarm I ended up confessing it immediately when we left the building. But now the situation was different. This school's run-down and I doubted that it underwent maintenance recently. With nothing else to do, I reluctantly pulled down on the lever, knowing full well of what was going to happen next.

**BBRRRGGGGGHHH...**

It was loud, but subtle, as I saw the wall on the opposite side rumble. I pressed myself against the staircase in fear of what was going on, and slowly the entire wall was digging its way into the ground. I stared in awe as the wall was completely buried underground, like a secret entrance one would see in an adventure movie. Behind it, a few light bulbs here and there were lighting up the way, just enough for a person to make his way through. The smell, however, was the most dominate quality. I could smell soil here and there, so I knew I was going underground, but I also smelled metal and if my senses were right, fresh paint.

_Since when did an elementary school have secret passageways in its basement?_

Turning transparent again, I dashed through the passage as fast as I could, not wanting to attract its previous trespassers. I had to find John quick. I heard that Sleep Powder, like its name suggest, puts its targets to sleep. But if Tasha used just a pinch of it to knock out his parents, and John took an entire fistful of it to his face, then who knows how long he would be knocked out for!

Speaking of which, when he _does_ wake up, what would happen to him? I only had vague ideas of it during the car ride, but now with a long straight path to fly through, I had time to focus my imagination.

...

"_Where am I! Who're you!"_

_Standing over a John strapped into a chair in a dark room with a lamp flashing in his face, was Jobe and Tasha looming over him. "You caused us a lot of trouble. Exposing Pokemon's existence like that. It's simple-we want to know where your pretty Misdreavus is." Jobe said chillingly while pulling out a thin metal instrument not dissimilar to a poker one would find next to a fireplace in their home._

"_Tasha! What's going on here!" John yelled at her, who was staring at him with a small smile._

_She shook her head in pity. "Listen, just tell us what we want. We'll be sure not to kill you. And if you're not going to answer..." She pulled out a Pokeball from her pocket and released a Pikachu from it. "Bolt will make sure you stay up as long as we want to." Said Pikachu's cheeks sparked in anticipation while chuckling quietly in his surprisingly thick voice._

_..._

"No no no no no! Don't think of that! You're his Pokemon! You're going to make sure none of that's ever going to happen!" I chided myself loudly, the walls around me making my words echo back menacingly.

"Shut up!" I yelled at the walls in frustration as I flew faster and faster. Everything turned into a blur from the passing air and eminent tears. The echoes continued to rebound back into my ears. _"Shut up...shut up...up..."_

"Grrrgh!" I growled, clenching my teeth. Thankfully none of my noise reverberated from the walls. "Whew." I sighed after relieving my built-up stress.

"Okay, I got that out of my-"

Immediately, I collided headfirst into something, HARD.

"Gaah!" I yelped in pain and surprise as I tried to recollect myself. My head was pounding as I realized I was still flying at top speed and wasn't looking at where I was going, despite calming down. And now, I feel like my head was about to burst from whatever I just hit.

"Damn that hurts!" I grunted to no one in particular and fell to the ground to rest, wishing that I had been born with hands. I could feel the tears from earlier fall, making my cheeks burn as well as my head.

_Damn it girl! At least you now know what happens when you fly full speed with your eyes closed!_

I couldn't help but lecture myself for my stupidity, and I after a few moments for the pain to fade I tried to shake the tears off with little success.

_Oh, that's right...whenever I cried like this, John always wiped them away..._

I slowly hovered back into the air, feeling my eyes tingle but not teary-eyed. "I need to find him, quick." I turned around to look where to go, but I instead stared at the wall I crashed into. It was different than the other walls of the tunnel. It was metal, not soil or rock like the surrounding walls, and oddly, it was quite shiny, reflecting the light from the bulbs hanging above and around it. Right in its middle, a large rectangular door.

"What the...was there such a door here before?" I asked out loud. I inspected it a bit closer and saw beside the door a small black screen and below it a panel of numbered buttons.

"Oh great, a password system." I grumbled. I saw John play many video games that had these kinds of things. The only difference here was that I had no way of knowing what the password was.

_Now where is that secret crate or guard that holds said password? Hmm..._

"Did you hear something?"

I gasped quietly when I heard the unexpected voice. I turned around and saw 2 figures coming this way from a separate tunnel by the right. One was a man, but the other was obviously a Pokemon. I couldn't tell much from the distance, but I could see it had 4 legs and a long neck, complete with yellow and brown skin over it.

"Speak of the devil..." I muttered under my breath before quickly turning invisible. With nowhere adequate to hide behind in this empty tunnel, I flew up to the ceiling to avoid as much suspicion as possible.

The 2 figures got closer and I could make out their features now. The man had messy brown hair, blue eyes, and a long gray coat covering most of his body. His face was young, about 18 or 20 years old, but his sharp eyes and muscular embouchure made him look tough and vigilant. His Pokemon, I didn't fare better at identifying. It had a body similar to a giraffe, but the similarities ended there. The front half of its body was yellow with brown marks while the back half had the colors reversed. It had a large pink nose and pink triangular spike running down its back. On its head 2 white antennae-like appendages were sticking out. The most obvious feature was behind its rather normal looking front, its back end had a brown spherical head sticking out instead of a tail. Despite my time learning about other Pokemon with John, he never showed me one that looked like this.

"Huh...nothing. Are you picking up anything with those 2 heads of yours?" the man asked the Pokemon in a gruff, almost exhausted tone.

The Pokemon turned its head a couple more times before responding. "I sense _something_, that's for sure." The voice was calm and light, indicating it was a young male, or even older. "But I'm not so sure. I'm picking up traces of something, but it could have just been left by those 2 guys from before."

_They must be talking about Jobe and Tasha. Maybe I can..._

"ARRF! ARRRF! ARR!"

I gasped in surprise at the sudden noise of barking, making me hit my head with the rock ceiling. I had to suppress a moan of pain from giving myself away. After a moment to recover, I found the source of the noise-_behind the Pokemon?_

_So that tail's actually a living head? Just what kind of Pokemon is he?_

"Despite what you say, your tail end seems to be more observant." The man said, patting the giraffe's rump to calm the tiny head. He spun around, trying to see if he missed something. "An intruder? A Pokemon that turns invisible?"

_Well, he got me there._

"Where are you?" The man said menacingly. He threw up his hands in anger after talking to thin air for a minute. "That's it, I give up! Gira, Psybeam at the ceiling!"

The Pokemon pawed the ground and I could see a white light forming between the 2 white appendages on his head. Without time to even think "Crap", the white light shot out like lightning and hit the ceiling, right about a foot from where I was.

"Shit!" I cursed at the close call. After a second to gaze at the hunks of rock crumbling like a cookie, I looked back down, and saw both the man and Pokemon grinning.

_Oh...damn. Well, there goes my cover._

"Gira, again!" Another second and the bright light crashed with the rocks, even closer to me, but not touching. Seeing this, I panicked and flew right back out of the tunnel.

"Gira, Odor Sleuth! Don't let it get away!" the man screamed behind me as I continued to fly non-stop.

"Got it!" the Pokemon yelled back, and I could hear their heavy steps and trotting following right behind.

_Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! __This is too fast! I knew I should have attacked that Pokemon when I had the chance! _

_Wait. What am __I__ running for? I was __born__ for things like this, wasn't I? This is what I've been training for with Mac and Mitsune!_

I braked in the air, and turned around to see the 2 still running at me, a bit ways off. _They're still far away. I can charge up an attack. But which one?_

Deciding to wing it, I focused energy behind my eyes for a Confuse Ray. Preparing the attack made me turn visible, but I was too busy with the attack to care. Eventually, the pair stopped running and looked up at me in shock.

"Misdreavus? A ghost-type?" the man said in wonder. The Pokemon beside him, however, got ready for whatever I was about to throw at them.

Another moment and my eyes were ready. They shone purple light at the pair, illuminating the cave partially all the while. The Pokemon quickly side-stepped in front of his trainer, staring me down constantly. The light eventually faded, and I blinked a few times to focus my vision, expecting a pair of teeter-tottering human and Pokemon.

Unfortunately, it looked like not of them were affected by the Confuse Ray.

I blinked a couple more times to check if I was seeing right. The man was mouthing something behind the Pokemon, but I was too busy in my thoughts. The light didn't touch the man because his Pokemon was in the way, I could understand that. But why didn't the Pokemon become confused?

_Wait! John told me about stuff like this! Not just type advantages, but immunities! Let's see, Confuse Ray's a ghost-type move, and the only type immune to that is-_

I couldn't finish the answer, however, as I was suddenly constricted around some sort of invisible tube, making me cry out it the crushing sensation. My entire body tensed to reduce the pain, but that only made it worse. All of a sudden, my body was thrown down to the ground, resulting in any more of my grunts of suffering muffled. Eventually, the pain faded, and I looked up gingerly to see the giraffe's eyes emanate blue light for a second before turning back into brown.

"Scared? Well, you should be." The man behind the Pokemon walked confidently towards me. I was still grabbing my breath from the attack. "How did you like Gira's Psychic?"

I didn't say anything; I was too jarred by that attack to think of anything to say.

"Reconnaissance, huh?" the man droned on while I was panting for breath. His Pokemon was pawing the ground eagerly with a smile. "I don't know who sent you, but killing you ain't going to make a difference. Stomp."

The last word was a breath of relief. _Don't hold your breath! Normal-type moves don't work-_

The Pokemon's black hoof came right down on my head, digging me deeper into the dirt floor and stuffing my mouth with dirt. I couldn't see anything now, but when I tasted the soil and I wanted to throw up, except I was having difficulty breathing with my face to the ground.

"Mmmph ph mmmp?" I wanted to say "What the hell?" in shock of what just happened, but as you could imagine, it's hard to talk with a mouthful of dirt.

"Surprised? That's Odor Sleuth for ya." I heard the man chuckle cockily. "Gira, don't kill it. Just exhaust it. I could get a pay rise for bringing in something _this_ good." Without further ado, the mystery Pokemon rhythmically stomped over and over at my body relentlessly.

"Grrh! Grrh! Grrhgh!" Instead of screams of pain, I let out muffled ones, making the man laugh jovially at my pain.

"Good! Keep it up! We'll know when she's knocked out!" He said aloud.

Even with all of the pain coming down, I still somehow had the energy to think, albeit painfully. Forming coherent words gave me a jolt of pain and it didn't stop my muffled cries, but I could still think.

_Hurry up and think before you get your skull crushed Maria! Alright, that Pokemon could use Psychic, so he's obviously a psychic-type. But since Confuse Ray didn't work on him, he's part normal-type, too! Damn! With all these blows, I can't concentrate for a Psywave or Confusion, not that it would be very effective! What can I do?_

_Wait. Maybe, just maybe, I can use __that__..._

Amazingly, with all the pain I received from the Pokemon, I still managed to tense up and silence my cries. I was completely desperate for this plan to work. But for it to work, I needed both of them off guard. My whole body was gasping for air, but I froze myself, taking little pants of air through the crumbling dirt, waiting for the blows to stop.

"Hmph. That didn't take long. Tasha will be happy to see her. Now we have both player and Pokemon. Gira, pick her up. We're taking her to Tasha." I heard the man talk. I felt something hard clench down at my hair, and I wanted to groan in disgust as I figured out what it was.

_Eeeeww! Animal mouth! It's so wet! _

But putting all thoughts aside, I focused my energy in my center, and I opened my eyes just enough for me to see. Shifting my eyes to my left, I saw the man walking beside the Pokmeon. After a few minutes, of waiting, I could see the metal door from before.

_That's it...a little closer..._

The man marched past us and poked a few of the buttons, letting a light beeping sound every time. I could see from behind that the black screen had space for 8 digits.

_8-digit password...almost..._

He pressed the last button, and a red 0 glowed from the screen.

_Now!_

Before anyone could react, I freed my hair from the Pokemon's mouth, ripping a few follicles out in the process, but the pain didn't distract me-it was do-or-die time, and I was _not _going to die. The Pokemon tried to spit out the hair, but I smashed into him with all of my strength before he could. The point of contact I made with him felt hot, just like last time. But this time, the energy that stopped at the contact point started to get absorbed into me. The Pokemon gave a howl of pain before falling to the floor with a loud **THUM!**

I didn't know what happened exactly, but I was too pumped-up with adrenaline to stop now or absorb all the details. I turned around to face the man, and his index finger was just above the 'ENTER' key of the keypad.

The man rapidly raised his hands in front of him, yelling out "Aaaaahhh!" in fear and confusion, but I wasted no time, forming the same energy to my forehead and I flew into his unprotected stomach. The contact point burned up, and I felt the energy fill my whole body. Just like his Pokemon, he gave an anguished roar and fell to the ground, doubling over.

With both of them out of the way for now, I took a few breaths and looked at myself, amazed at what I could do with just Pain Split.

_This must be how a battery feels like!_ I smiled at my newly rejuvenated body-my head stopped feeling like it was going to split, and my body felt as if I just walked out of a massage parlour (not that I've ever been to one, of course!) I stretched whatever neck I had and flew over to the door. I pushed the 'ENTER' key and the door swung open, leading into another hallway.

_Are you kidding me? More flying? Uggh!_

I didn't have the chance to moan in annoyance however, as I felt something hit me on the back, pushing me until I crashed into the cold metal wall. I cried out more in surprise than pain, and I slid down the wall until I hit the floor. As I gritted my teeth, I turned around and saw what hit me: the mystery Pokemon, Gira.

"You're not getting away!" he yelled at me, charging up another Psybeam. I saw where this was going, but instead of dodging it, something made me fly right at the Pokemon, readying for another Pain Split.

Gira, seeing this, quickly halted his charging Psybeam and decided to run right at me. I could feel something ominous from his attack than just a Tackle, but I was at full speed, and I couldn't stop in mid-air so easily this time. This was in all honesty a stupid idea. Gira's bigger than me, so obviously he would just launch me away.

But something was different. Yes, my head was aching from the collision, but there was something else. When we made contact, I felt a surge of sudden strength and I ended up shooting out like a bullet, pushing Gira backwards and gaining some air while doing so.

_What the! When did I get so strong?_

After about a second in mid-air, gravity took effect on Gira's heavy body, and I ended up crash-landing into the ground with him. Both of us grunted in pain at impact, but I was the one that got up from it. I flew into the air and looked at him. His eyes were closed, so I was slightly worried I might have actually killed him, but I could see his stomach growing and contracting just fine. What was _not_ fine was the spot where I hit him. A big black mark not much different from a bruise was imprinted on his yellow skin. It was especially unnerving when I realized that the outline was shaped like me!

"What the hell did I do? What was that?" I said aloud. I looked behind me and saw the stranger still lying there, eyes closed in sleep.

_Well, he's not going anywhere, and neither is Gira. I need to get moving._

As tired as I was, I knew that the racket we made was going to attract attention, and the trainer and Gira were far too beat up for me to use Pain Split on to heal myself. With some struggling, I turned invisible, and floated to the metal wall, seeing the password still on-screen. I pressed the "ENTER" key and the door slid open loudly, revealing in a shiny metal hallway.

I groaned at the sight. _Just how many more of these hallways are there!_

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I dashed in, taking in all the details to see if I can find a hint to where John was. The walls around me were covered in the same silvery steel, but they had a lot more doors with numbers, and panels to match them. Thankfully, these panels only had 1 button, presumably for closing and opening the door. But instead of opening the doors, I just passed them, not bothering to phase through the doors even.

_Come on, come on, come on! There has to be something here!_

Suddenly, I felt my neck get hot, and realized that my pearls were acting up again. Someone near me was getting the fright of his lifetime, and I was getting chills instead of warming up.

"No way…that's not John, is it…"

That was all that needed to be spoken for me to rush down the hall, close to screaming in horror at what could be happening to John. Every second, my pearls grew hotter and in turn, I flew faster.

"Where, where are you!" I couldn't take it anymore and screamed in exasperation. At this point, my vision was a blur with the combination of eminent tears and the wind scathing my face. I wanted to scream, let out all of my misery out. I felt like my insides were melting, boiling as my breaths turned into gasping chokes, trying to keep composed.

_No. Don't scream! You may be the Screeching Pokemon, but you can scream all you want later! You need to find John._

Through my wet eyes, I saw the end of the hallway, and saw it turn right. Holding my breath, I changed directions with stopping. All the while, my neck was burning up from the fear they absorbed.

_They're getting hotter...he's got to be arou-_

Before I could finish my train of thought, I collided with something, making me crash to the ground and turning off my invisibility. I cringed from both impacts, my tears sliding down my cheeks as I let out a loud groan of pain. I could hear whatever I bumped into give a moan themselves, and after a moment to recuperate, I opened my eyes to see the _last_ person I expected to see here.

"YOU!"

...

**Finally, I'm back with a new chapter! Whew, every one of these feels like an endurance now, seriously!**

**Thank you for all that read and/or reviewed to my last chapter. Sorry for everyone who thought there should have been more ass-kicking last I mentioned, but I'm just glad that I managed to squeeze in (what I think is) a good fight scene. I plan to add some more fights in the next chapter, with Maria's sudden encounter in this secret basement (just how long it is, you may ask? Hell if I know). If there's anything, from the fight scenes to the setting descriptions, please let me know with the review button below!**

**Will Maria find John? Is this new encouter friend or foe? You're going to have to check it out next time!**


	31. Interrogation

John's POV

I painfully opened my eyes to the bright light. I figured it was daytime and as I yawned in my awakening, I stretched my arms and legs on the soft mattress. I scratched my eyes, stretchedmy neck and wiped the dried trace of drool on my face.

_Ugh, that was a weird dream...Tasha, just standing over me..._

Abruptly, I felt like a nail was driven through my skull, making me cry out in the burst of pain. I raised my hands to my head, gritting my teeth to ease the pain, although I continued to make noises of suffering.

_What...what is this! I never touched a drop of beer in my life, but is this how a hangover feels like?_

Eventually, with a few deep breaths, I let go of the grip on my hair, and opened my eyes, all drowsiness gone. I blinked a couple times, and looked around my room.

Unfortunately, it wasn't what I expected. The room was no longer cluttered with books and clothes, but completely bare aside from a gold wooden table and 2 folding chairs beside it. I sat up and looked at the bed. It wasn't white cotton with green floral patterns like mine, but a deep purple and made with what felt like leather, like a hard mattress one would find in military barracks. The bright lights were emanating not from fluorescent bulbs, but incandescent ones (you know, the pear-shaped ones that get hot real easy?) The walls were made of grey metal instead of plaster and clay, and as I got of the bed and onto the floor, the ground was purely concrete, scratching my bare feet uncomfortably.

"What the hell? Where is this..." I muttered to myself. In a situation like this, I was acting surprisingly collected for some reason. I imagined that I would be panicking like most people and in the movies, but it was probably due to my languor.

I walked over the walls, pushing and sliding its cold, smooth surface to find a gap between the glistening squares of metal, hoping that a doorknob would show up. Unfortunately, after a minute of searching even under the chairs and desk, it was official-the room was sealed off completely with no way out.

"You've got to be shitting me..." I cursed myself. I punched the wall in frustration, not caring about bruised knuckles. "Why am I here, anyways, wherever this place is?" I asked aloud, looking to see if there were any cameras I missed in the corners. I gasped when I came with the obvious conclusion. "So...that actually _was_ Tasha?" I vaguely remember her spraying something on my face in my dream, but all that was real?

_Was that thing she sprinkled on me some drug to knock me out? If that's the case, how did she carry me all the way from my house to here? I __knew__ there was something up with her!_

I paced around the room, getting my heart to pump my blood to my brain to help my thought process. The grainy concrete scratched my feet, but callus prevented any pain receptors from reacting.

_Anyways, I need to get out of here regardless, but there's nothing here. Damn...now what? Where am I? Where's Maria? Is she here? Should I scream for help? _

I scanned the room one last time before giving an exhausted sigh and plunging into the hard mattress. I wiped my eyes of any traces of tears, and gripped the steel railing of the bed.

"Wait a minute..." _Why am I crying? I'm not scared or anything. Being in a room is nothing I'm used to. Being lonely is nothing different, so why are there tears. Am I actually scared without knowing it? No, I don't feel like that...something else is shaking my guts, not fear. _

_Worry?_

_Doubt?_

"What am I thinking?"I laughed to myself quietly, making the mattress bounce a little in response. _They're all different fears in the end, anyways._ I got up, and slammed my fists down onto the bed, barely hearing the springs. I saw the mattress shake, and with all of my pounding, I felt the bed move a little in compliance to my beatings.

_Huh. Figures this would be a cheap bed anyone could buy for a couple hundred bucks. Still, you would think with the nice clean room like this, the bed would be the most impressive._

_The bed...?_

That's when an idea, a ridiculous idea straight from my experience with video games, clicked in my brain. The bed was the only thing I haven't checked in the room. It was a long shot-why would anyone hide something under there? But it wasn't under the bed I wanted to check.

It was the mattress. I inspected the mattress and saw a small gap created from my hitting. I slid my fingers down the open space I made and griped at the fold of leather and fabric. After licking my lips in anticipation, I pulled the mattress out of the rectangular rails of the frame. It was lighter than I expected-probably just about 20 pounds or so, and it came loose from its hold easily. With a final push, I flipped the mattress on its side and onto the floor, giving a loud **FMMPH **of air being pushed out. With that out of the way, I stared at the rectangular hole the frame made, looking for anything that seemed out of place.

I leaned over and saw exactly that: a piece of paper the size of a marble, scrounged up into a ball from being crushed by the mattress.

_I never thought that would work...but then again, it could be just a piece of lint or the mattress tag._

I picked the paper up with trembling hands, hoping that it would at least give me something to read to kill some boredom. I unwrapped the paper, and I gave a big smile when I saw some crude writing on it.

Sadly, it wasn't anything to celebrate over:

**do as they say  
>keep hushed<strong>

I groaned at this less-than-significant discovery. I was expecting more than just 3 words on a page that I could write a full sentence on. "Do as who says?"

**CHNK!**

I gave a yelp of shock at the sudden sound. I turned around to find the source, and one of the metal panels on the wall decorations popped out, swinging in like a door. Behind it, a man with black t-shirt wearing sunglasses came in. He looked about 17 years old, had short blonde hair, a tall build, about 6 feet, and he had his hands to his sides. 'Thin' was the first word that came to mind; he had a thin face, legs, hands, and to drive it home, he was as pale as milk. The whole picture gave the effect of a walking skeleton.

I crumpled the note in my hands and faced him. At this point, I was terrified that he might pull a gun and threaten me, but that's exactly the reason why I couldn't look anywhere _but _his face, in case he might get angry.

"Good. You're awake." The man had a slick voice, like what one would expect from a snake if one could talk. "I know you must have a lot of questions, so follow me. We're just going to ask you some questions while answering some of yours." He sounded almost bored at the aspect. "And don't think of running away." He pulled back his right sleeve and revealed a cyan-white PokeNav strapped to his wrist.

_Figures..._He took out a Pokeball from it and released its content in a dazzling light. A brown reptilian creature with dull brown eyes appeared next to the man, about 3 feet in height and possessing a lighter, striped underside. A short brown tail behind the Pokemon had 2 small spikes protruding out like the horns of its skull-encased head. In one of its hands, a long, thick bone not dissimilar to a human femur was being held like a club.

"As you could tell, a Marowak." The man said indifferently while the Pokemon tapped at the walls with its bone like a hammer, making loud noises of clanging metal bounce around the room. "Come on, let's get this over with." The stranger walked out the room, the Marowak following obediently behind.

I gave a defeated sigh and followed behind the 2, trying to keep myself amused by thinking I should be handcuffed like a jailer (_wait...that's not exactly amusing, is it?_)

As we walked down the hall, I was scared, but also curious. "So, mister..."

"Kries." He answered with a dull note. "Simon Kries. And the Marowak's Mara."

"A female?" I blurted without thinking. The Marowak flashed around so fast I raised my arms in defence.

"A problem?" The voice was, for a lack of a better word, crackly, like her throat was made of sand, but at least it was audible and interpretable.

"Uh, no! No, not at all!" I stammered in embarrassment as well as intimidation of not seeing a mouth move as she spoke. I raised my hands, pleading mercy. "It's just that, well, I didn't expect to see a trainer here. I'm guessing she was a Cubone."

"All Marowak were once Cubone." Mara said matter-of-factly.

I held back an exasperated groan at the bluntness of the response. "Yes, I know. But I'm just...surprised that there would be trainers that made it this far, and that you've fought enough of other Pokemon to evolve, too."

Both man and Pokemon gave a small "Hmph." and walked on quietly. I was bursting with questions, but I was too frightened by the duo to ask anything else. I just hoped that whatever was going to happen wasn't going to get me in any huge trouble.

_But aren't you already in trouble?_

I groaned at my self-pity.

...

Eventually, after the slow walk, we arrived at a brown wooden door. He opened the door and I followed him in, Mara right behind both of us. The room was almost pitch black, but I expected my interrogation to take place in my room instead of someplace so far away.

"There is more than one person questioning you, so it's logical you come to them instead of them coming to you.' Simon told me during the walk. I didn't completely understand what he meant, but I just thought that since there were only 2 chairs in my room, it would be counterproductive to drag in more chairs into the room for people to sit on.

The room was dimly lit, and I could barely make out the figures sitting on the opposite side of what looked like a large round table. I couldn't make out any details on them or the room, just that the room was smaller than my earlier prison and there were 3 people wearing black. With the setting and intimidating looks I was getting despite the dark, the ambience was enough to make cry a little inside.

_Oh God, is this an interrogation? A serious one? Like 'I can get tortured and arrested' interrogation? Oh what did I do to deserve this?_

"Sit down." One of the figures said in a deep voice. Not one to argue with his position, I griped in the air until I found a chair and sat down in front of them. I clenched my hands into fists and realized I was sweating already.

"Introduce yourself." Another voice, this time lighter but stronger like steel, came from the person next to the first one. "And try to tell the truth. Believe us," Suddenly, a bright light out of nowhere blinded me for a moment, making me cover my eyes in defense. After calming down, I looked around to see what happened, and I saw a fourth figure next to the second. It was dark, but I knew from its build it wasn't human. "the Kadabra here will know about any lies. Answer as best as you can, and there will be no problems."

_A Pokemon? These guys too?_

I was clenching my hands so hard my fingernails were digging into my palms. My speech wasn't exactly perfect, either. "J-John Evans, sixteen, 10th grade in Dulcetdrift High School."

I saw the first man move something with his hands, and from the sound of it, it was paper. "So far, so good."

A third voice cut me off, this time a woman, judging from the higher pitch but deep accent. Sounded foreign, European or something. "So, do you have a Pokemon?"

My jaw dropped at the sudden shift in topic. "Uh...uh, uhm..." I was frantically licking my lips, hoping it would flex with my words, but nothing would come out but stutters.

"Oh come on, you were talking just fine." The same voice spoke again, sounding agitated now. "If it makes you feel any better, I can show you mine." She pulled out her sleeve.

_Another player? Is everyone in this room involved in the game?_

"What are you-!" but before any of the others could cut her off, a flash of light lit up the room, blinding me as I raised my arms to guard my eyes. After the light died down and my eyes readjusted to the darkness again, I looked around trying to find where this new Pokemon was. But I couldn't see anything in the end.

"Uhm, just where..."

I heard a click, and instantly, the light got brighter by just a few lux so I could at least see my talkers, but still rather dark. I turned my head upward and saw some dimly-lit fluorescent lights, glowing grey instead of white.

"Max..." the female voice growled in a furious way. I could make out more of the figures' details now with the lights on. The woman looked in her 20s, and had long brown-blond hair and had a face a celebrity would wear along with the figure of one. It was currently wrinkled in anger just like her black dress shirt. "I thought told you to fix the lights." It wasn't loud like I thought a woman would complain, but it was low yet just as threatening.

"Sorry, it's just that every time, the bulbs would either break or bend, and no one else could help me." A gruff voice spoke beside us. I spun my head to my right and saw the source. A large, hulking Pokemon in the shape of a professional bodybuilder was standing next to the table. He had 3 brown ridges on his head in place of hair, and red reptilian eyes looking down at the ground. His purple skin had fleshy red lines along his arms, and he was wearing what looked like speedos with a big golden belt that had a 'P' on it.

"M-m-ma-ma-ma-Machoke!" I gasped after a moment of wonder at the Pokemon. Said Machoke turned to face me, his eyes widening.

"Oh, a new guy." He said with enthusiasm, walking up to me. "Name's Max, who're you?"

Before I could mutter a response, the woman spoke up, this time louder. "This is no time for socializing!" She got up from her seat, and tapped the Machoke with the Pokeball, making him disappear in a red light and into the ball.

"Sorry." The woman said irritably, sitting back down while ignoring disapproving looks from the 2 men beside her. "Max can be outspoken. Anyways, my point is that we all have Pokemon, including you, no?"

Her words brought me back to my senses, and I responded immediately. "Yes, I do."

"Okay we're back on track. No more distractions. Next question." The first man said rather hurriedly. I could see was also wearing a black dress shirt but with the addition of a blue tie. He had a shaved head, and a rather pudgy face, looking about 30 years old. "Do you know where you are?"

That was a no-brainer. "No, no! Of course I don't!" I was so nervous that I ended up shouting out the last words, and I bit my lip at my mistake. "Umm...sorry." I apologized, almost close to a whisper. "So...will you tell me where I am?" I asked with uncertainty.

"We're in Eglington. Eglington Public School, specifically." The second man answered concisely. He had long blond hair reaching his neck, and looked the most generic out of the 3. Round face, average build behind a black suit, and had red horn-rimmed glasses. He looked the oldest out of the bunch, about 30 years old, but possessing slight wrinkles around his eyes, differentiating him from the first man. I could see the Pokemon behind him as well. He was yellow and brown, and had a prominent pink star on his forehead-a Kadabra, indeed.

I opened my mouth to ask why, but then the realization hit me right on my head. My right hand, ready for pointing, fell limp down my side. "This, this place is Eglington?" I managed to muster out, after a moment of silence.

"Yes. I'm sure Mr. Sing mentioned a project going on here?" the shaved man asked me. I could only nod with my mouth still open in shock, and he continued his talk. I couldn't think straight having reminded that I was back in one of the worst towns on the planet. "Like Mr. Vadres said before," when he looked at my confused face, he picked up my message. "Oh, that's right, we didn't introduce ourselves. I'm Mr. Audie, the man with glasses is Mr. Vadres, and the lady is Ms. Bezel. Like Mr. Vadres said, we are under the public school, and yes, it's still early morning. Tasha brought you in around 2 o'clock."

"Tasha?" I interjected, this time careful not to raise my voice too high. But my suspicions were confirmed. "Tasha? She's here? She works for you guys?"

"Yes, she does." Ms. Bezel answered. "Now you answer one of our questions." The woman was babying me along, but that just meant it was easy to get an answer out of her. "Are you or are you not associated with Gavin Nio?"

I gasped at the mention of the name. If Tasha was working with them, it was only logical she would tell them everything, including Alex and Nio, so why was I so surprised. Because I never expected her to rat on us like this? "Well...uhm, by associated, you mean working for him, no, not at all!" I chirped out in a nervous wreck. Technically, I really wasn't, so that can't be a lie! "I just know him because he helped my family out when we were still living here!" You would have thought not thinking about the portal and Mr. Nio and Alex's past would be hard, but it came shockingly easy. Probably because I was scared out of my wits here.

The man with the tie, Mr. Audie, simply nodded, and continued with my questioning. "What about a man named Alex Arlon? Do you know anything about him?"

I was prepared for the question this time, but that didn't necessarily mean I had an answer ready. "Uh, Alex, he came by our house after this mess with Pokemon started. He's been meeting with Mr. Nio, but other than that he works for the government (somehow), I don't know anything else, I swear!" I was getting so anxious in my answer that I could feel myself shaking in my seat.

"All right, calm down." The woman, Bezel, said with a smile. "Calm down, just a couple more questions and you can ask your own questions." I took a deep breath, and starting to feel constriction from my clothing, looked around to room in agitation, as if facing claustrophobia.

"Do you know any other trainers, besides you and Tasha?" was the question from her.

"Uh, there's Kari, and a Jess, they both go to my school." When I answered, the Kadabra stared right into my eyes, and whispered something in Mr. Vadres, and I knew I screwed up somehow. "Wait, am I missing someone? I am, aren't I? Uh, give me a minute!" I yelped out, and began wracking my brain for another player.

_Come on, come on, come on! Is there someone I missed? Oh that's right! There's-_

"Kyle!" Again, I ended up screaming, and I could see all 4 of them jump a little, or at least widen their eyes. "Kyle! Yeah, he has a Growlithe, but he doesn't live here, he goes to university now."

"Really?" Mr. Audie inquired, with emotion in his tone. "His full name? What university?"

"Kyle Sullivan." I was gripping my knees like a scared kid, but what else was I right now? "The university...I, I don't remember. Really I don't!" I whined, seeing disappointment on his face. "It's been weeks, months since I last saw him."

"You sound like you know him well." Mr. Vadres spoke up. "A good friend of yours?"

"Hardly. He was my bully in elementary school, right here." I felt somewhat disgusted that Kyle would be associated with me like that. I bit my tongue to prevent any more descriptions. My sour face was enough.

The 3 adults turned to each other, and nodded in surprising unison. "Just one more question." Mr. Vadres said, and faced me. "What do you think about working with us?"

...

Maria's POV

"What are you doing here, Kyle?"

"I could ask you the same thing." He said next to me, his Growlithe Gray in front of us following John's scent. "I was on my way to Dulcetdrift to meet up with Nio, and all of a sudden, Alex calls me in the middle of the night!" He groaned, his face sagging as he ran. "I didn't even get a coffee yet, he wants me to go _where! _He's just lucky that Eglington's close to Dulcetdrift, otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered coming here!"

"Wait, Alex called you?" It was more than a statement than a question. "Where is he? If he knows about this, than he should be helping us out or something!"

"He's here, just through another way." He breathed out as we turned right down the hallway. "This tunnel's big, and we split up at the first crossroad."

_That's right...I was so crazy about John that I just went wherever my pearls grew hotter. Maybe I should ask for directions next time..._

"Alex can handle himself with Light, but I'm not so sure with just you and Gray." He sounded skeptical at the idea of raiding a base.

"Hey, I just took down a weird giraffe-thing at the entrance. I'm pretty sure I can get by with your help." I grumbled at him.

"Mind telling me why we're here again? Alex just told me a bunch of suspicious dudes were at the school, and you were with them." He told me.

"The guys here, Tasha, they kidnapped John. I'm here to take him back." was my short response.

"Who's Tasha?"

Unfortunately, I didn't get to answer that. Standing 10 feet away from us was a man, about 17 years old, had blond hair and pale skin. On the ground next to him was a weird brown reptile with brown eyes behind a white skull, carrying a large bone that looked suspiciously human. Gray was growling at both of them, suspecting danger at the slightest movement. I was still injured from that giraffe Pokemon, so I had to be more cautious and hovered back a little.

"A Marowak." Kyle muttered next to me. "So you're a player, too?"

The man seemed to hesitate a bit before answering. He put his hands in his pockets while the Marowak got ready to fight. "Get out of here. I don't want to have to report this. Take the Misdreavus back, if you want. I don't care." He was so deadpan and meek that I was shocked. I would expect more of a reaction when seeing a ghost- and fire-type Pokemon and a stranger in a hidden underground base.

"What are you saying?" The Marowak sounded female, even though its voice sounded like sandpaper. She looked annoyed, and eyed the man lazily. "I don't want to fight so early in the day, either, but I would appreciate it if you would take our job a little more seriously. That Misdreavus belongs to the boy earlier. We would save time bringing her in."

"You know where John is!" I involuntarily screamed out. No sooner I realized my mistake that Kyle facepalmed himself and Gray gave a groan.

"See what I mean." The Marowak said in a slightly whinier voice. "Early morning, makes me say things I don't mean to say."

Kyle nodded in agreement, smirking. "Tell me about it. Why made me decide to come here in the first place?"

"Enough talk, are we going to battle?" the Marowak was getting impatient, and started to strike the ground with her club.

"Guess so." The man pulled his hands out, and put them behind his back. "But we're outnumbered 3 to 2. You think you can take them both on?"

Gray was snarling louder by the second, and turned to me. "She probably could. She's evolved, a ground-type, and I'm a fire-type, so my flames won't work very well."

"Don't count me out like that!" Without thinking, I charged in, readying Pain Split to recover my strength lost from Gira. Before I could even touch her though, a flash of her bone club was all I saw before it collided with my face, sending me flying to the air.

"Gaah!" I screamed out while trying to stabilize myself in the air. I was lucky that I didn't have a nose; otherwise it would be crushed inward. But my whole face felt sore, like a massive bruise was created in its middle.

"Okay then, a fight." Even with my eyes closed from the pain, I heard the man talk, albeit quieter then he has been before. "Mara, you know what to do. I'm going to report this. I'll be back." I opened my eyes after the pain faded, and saw him jog down the hallway with a surprisingly bored expression on his face, like he didn't care about any of this.

It didn't matter. He's here, so he must know about where John is.

"Wait!" I flew after him, but the Marowak named Mara was quick to respond and threw her club. The bone was spinning at a blinding speed, barely missing my head and halting me. I gave a yelp of shock as the bone began to ricochet off the thin corridor, making a deafening uproar of banging metal and rock. Gray jumped back when it came particularly close to him, remembering his weakness to ground-type moves. Kyle was frozen, but not in fear but almost wonder, as he tried to eye the bouncing club despite its inhuman speed. After a few seconds, Mara raised her right arm and as the bone was flying towards her, _she caught it in mid-spin._

Even with her bone helmet, I could see anger in her eyes, slightly red from lack of sleep. "Bonemerang." Mara growled, and brought the bone club back, winding up for another toss. "I could use the practise."

"...we're so screwed, aren't we?" I breathed out after her impressive demonstration, wide-eyed.

"Not yet!" Kyle reassured us. "Gray, speed up. Get that club out of her hands."

Gray barked in response, and his feet started to glow white. Before I could ask, he shot like a rocket right at Mara, who blinked at the surprising speed. In about half a second, Gray made it to the other end of the corridor, in his mouth the large bone she was holding.

_Damn, that was fast!_

_But...she's still..._

We all had different reactions for the outcome of Gray's attack. I was shocked by the rapidity of Gray's movements, Mara was confused by what transpired in such short time, Kyle was irked by her resilience, and Gray was disappointed for failing his order. Remember how I said the bone was in Gray's mouth? Well, it was.

But Mara was still holding onto it, gripping it tighter than ever. It appeared that even with Gray's super speed and element of surprise, it wasn't enough to get the club out of her hands. She was simply dragged by Gray while he was busy pulling the bone.

"Let go, dog." Mara crackled, which Gray responded, through a mouth full of bone, with a simple growl. "I would never let go of my weapon so easily with cheap tricks."

Gripping the bone with both hands, she lifted Gray high up in the air. She then brought her club down hard, slamming Gray onto the concrete floor. Gray made no sound of pain, but I could see hints of red on his white fur, and he still wouldn't let go.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Gray, hold her!" I yelled out, flying right to them. I felt a familiar strength, the one that allowed me to take down Gira from before, charging up. All I had to do was make contact with Mara, and it would be all over.

Or so I thought, until Mara swung the bone like a batter, sending me flying along with Gray through the hallway. I fell to the ground, my face stinging everywhere from the pain. I shook the pain away, and saw the small figure of a Marowak charging straight for me, her club overhead.

"Gray, Fire Fang!"

Gray, who was lying beside me a second ago, got to his feet in an instant and bared his teeth. Nothing else happened, but then I saw his teeth turn red like it was metal, and in a flash it burst into flames. Mara caught up to me and brought the club down, but not before Gray intercepted it by clamping down on her hands with his fangs ablaze.

_What sorcery is this? Breathing fire, I can believe, but setting your teeth on fire? That can't be good for his gums. Oh what am I doing? I should help him!_

While Mara was distracted with Gray's maw burning her hands, he gave me enough time to fly behind her and tackle her with Pain Split. But like last time, it was different. When I made contact, I started shooting out like a bullet, carrying me, Mara, and Gray into the air. As much as I wanted to stop, I was out of control, and out the corner of my eye, Gray was smart enough to let go of Mara-we ended up crashing into the ceiling by the time I was done.

Mara was the recipient of both my new move and the ceiling, so she crashed into the iron roof face first, cushioning me in the process. After a few seconds of burying her face in metal, I dropped to the ground, letting Mara fall and into the concrete (I can't imagine the concussion she must have gotten, with her head encased in bone and all.) I dragged myself to the wall, leaning against it and gasping for breath.

"What the hell..." Through my pants, I heard Kyle wonder out loud at my stunning accomplishment. "Misdreavus can't learn normal damaging moves other than Pain Split. What was that?"

"I don't...really know." I muttered out, still taking shallow breaths. "It's a new move, obviously. Every time I try to use Pain Split after being hit by an attack, I end up using this instead."

"Well we can talk on the way. We need to get out of here."

And with good reason. I looked and saw Mara on her knees, struggling to stay conscious and cope with the pain. With her eyes closed in pain, she was griping at the floor, trying to find her bone club that lied about 4 feet away.

"Yeah, lets." With surprising vigor, I got back up in the air and flew deeper into the corridor. I noticed a lack of footsteps, and turned around to see Kyle and Gray eyeing the bone.

"Are you going to take that?" I asked him. It was a smart move-without her weapon, Mara won't be able to use it against us like she did not long ago if she got in the way again.

"No, that would be stealing." He chided me, a hint of mirth in the lecture. He bent down, reaching eye-level with Mara. "And I'm over stealing. Mara." The Marowak rubbed her eyes and widened them when she saw between Kyle's fingers, dangling like a pendulum. "You want it? Take it." Suddenly, he lobbed the bone overhead, hitting the wall and landing on the very end of the hallway.

I heard an audible gasp coming from her, and she ran for the club. Even though it was scratched and dirtied, my eyes softened at the sight of her gently picking it up like a baby. Kyle got up and ran towards me with Gray beside him, his mission complete.

"You're giving it back to her?" I was surprised by his kindness. I never knew anyone who was as rotten as he was could act like that. He cracked a smile and jogged next to me.

"Like I said, I'm no thief. By the way, your new move. You said that it only happens after you got injured. That sounds like a dark-type move, specifically Payback. I don't have to go into _too _much detail to tell you what it does, do I?"

Before I could ask just that, I heard a loud scream coming from behind us. We turned around and saw Mara running towards us, her club raised in the air and continuing to roar like a berserker.

"I can't lose! I'm not losing a fight now!" She yelled and ran faster and faster.

I was scared stiff by this change in emotion. To me, she gave the impression of a cool, calculated woman. But now that vision was broken, and her eyes were wide and furious. In front of me, Kyle sighed. "Gray. Flame Burst."

Gray nodded, and opened his mouth. Before I could ask him what he was doing, I saw a small ball of orange fire being formed in the back of his throat, growing larger by the second. His mouth and brighter and brighter until it filled his entire mouth, at which point I expected to see the flaming orb explode in his face.

But instead, he spat it out of his mouth like gum, sending it flying towards Mara like a baseball. She saw it coming and stopped running. Instead of running away or dodging it like I would have, she raised her club behind her, gripping it tight.

"Batter up!" She screamed out, excitement in her voice.

"You idiot...!" I heard Kyle whisper harshly. I couldn't tear myself away at the sight as the fireball continued hurtling through the air and at her. When the blazing ball came close enough, she gave a loud "Yaah!" and swung with all of her might.

It didn't work like either she or I expected it to. The ball didn't come back; instead when Mara's club and Gray's attack made contact, the orb exploded in a great crimson blaze, filling the whole hallway with intense heat. I couldn't see anything through the red and orange flames, and I had to squint to keep myself from going blind.

"GAAAAAAH!" A shrill voice penetrated the air and my ears, shaking me to my core. Amidst the roaring flames, a black silhouette violently swung around like a marionette doll hanging from strings. She continued to writhe in agony, and howled like there was no tomorrow. Judging from her reaction, that idea was more than plausible.

The flames died out in a few more seconds, and fully opened my eyes to see the devastation. Everything from the iron walls to the earthen ceiling was charred black. I could smell the smoke and ash stuffing my nose, and I winced at the sharp scent.

Mara was, to everyone's surprise, still standing. But she looked...almost nightmarish. Her brown skin was painted black and her once-white helmet and bone club had patches of black and dark brown on it. She was using said bone to help balance herself, but after a few seconds of deep heaving panting, she hit the floor face first. It was only when I smelt something similar to smoked meat that snapped out from my trance.

"Hey...!" My voice was airy and shaking from the shock of what I witnessed. When, how did Gray get so strong? "You didn't...kill her?"

Kyle looked back and faced me with watery eyes. "You heard her breathing. We need to go." He snapped his fingers, and Gray quietly barked a response. "We need to find John." He and Gray ran past me, but as I flew behind them, I turned around and saw the ash-laden corridor, releasing smoke and Mara, from who I could hear short but audible gasps for air.

For a short moment, I stopped flying and felt something churn my body. Without warning it came through my throat, and I had to hold my breath to keep from letting it out. It burned my mouth and tasted horrible, rancid, melting away my mouth like acid. I clenched my eyes and swallowed, letting its rough texture scald my esophagus. A few more seconds, and I was panting for breath, shocked at what could have happened. I gulped whatever residue I had left in my mouth, and dashed as fast as I could for Kyle and Gray, who made a left at the end of the hall.

_That...that was a battle? Is something like that going to happen to me? To John? To everyone else we fight? _

_We need to get out of here soon...and fast._

...

**Damn, over 6k words, a new record.**

**That was a short battle, in my opinion, compared to the one from the last chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter so far, because I have some bad news: for the whole month of July, I'm going away on a trip to South Korea over the summer. And no, I won't be able to bring my laptop there, so don't expect any updates for at least a month.**

**For those going "Awww..." at this, if it makes you feel better, I'm not too happy about this either. At least this can give me a chance to brainstorm how the next chapters will go down.**

**Please, send as many reviews as you can over the month. I'm expecting my hotmail to be filled with reviews and favorites when I come back. How was the battle scene? Do you have a comment or criticism with the story and the characters so far? Leave me a review, and that goes DOUBLE for people who have this story on alert.**

**Thank you for reading this A/N, and I hope to hear from you next time!**

**(For those wondering, when Gray glowed white, he used Agility, and if you're still wondering what the 'giraffe' Maria fought was, it was a Girafarig. And if you're wondering how a fire-type like Growlithe could take down a ground-type Marowak, let's just say him and Kyle's found time to practice in between classes and studying.)**


	32. Miscommunication

Tasha's POV

_Come on, come on, come on! Where is it? I told them they should make a map of this place!_

I opened another door, and saw the same scenery-the same crappy bed and a bland table with 2 ugly chairs.

"Damn it!" I slammed the door shut and marched on. I knew I couldn't find Bolt like this, but I couldn't think of anything else. How was I supposed to find anyone in a place this big? My walk slowly turned into a jog, and that into a run. All I had to do was find Bolt and get out of here.

And If I had the time, kill Sing for making me go through all this shit as well as taking Bolt away from me.

_Lying to Nio, John, kidnapping him and bringing him here. All to get Bolt back. That's most important. But what about John? What are they going to do to him? Threaten and blackmail him for info? Torture him? _

"Ooof!"

I flew back and landed on my butt, bumping my head into someone behind the corner of the hallway. I rubbed my head and got up to brush the dirt off my pants, and opened my eyes to see who I ran into.

"Watch where you're going." A tall thin man whined as he rubbed his stomach, obviously being where I crashed into.

"Sorry Simon, but I got no time." I walked past him, and avoided eye contact with him. His pale skin and slim figure always gave me the chills for some reason. He was like some kind of boogeyman in real life when you first look at him.

"You looking for Sing? I'm going to him right now."

I stopped in my tracks and turned to look at him standing back up. "You know where he's at? In this huge-ass place?" I asked him with disbelief.

He nodded, and gave something that could be named a grin. "Yeah, I'm reporting something to him right now."

_Ugh! I didn't want to have to look for him, but he's the only one I can think of that would have Bolt. And if he doesn't, he would know where he is._

"Good. Let's go."

His slight smile turned upside-down in a blink. "Why? You looking for him too?"

"No, I'm looking for my mother." I said to him, deep in pitch and sarcasm oozing out so you could practically taste it. "Yeah I'm looking for him. He's got something I want."

He still looked just as confused, but didn't press on. "Okay then."

Typical response. Simon was always a man of little words, at least while I was here. To me, that was a good thing; it meant that he wasn't very nosy. We walked side to side, and I tried to find out without talking how Simon was able to navigate his way in here. Everything looked the same on the iron walls, except for some of the halls having doors and some were completely void of them.

"If you're lost, the halls are numbered."

I jumped at the sudden voice. I growled in annoyance; his smooth, quiet voice was the worst part about him, and it creeped me out to no end. "What?"

I saw him turned his eyes, and my face heated up in slight embarrassment. "The halls are numbered. So are the doors. You just need to find them."

I scoffed. The walls were completely bare when I saw them. How could they be numbered? But lo and behold. When we arrived at the end of our current hallway, he pointed to something high on the wall. Since I was so much shorter than him, I had to stand tippy-toed and squint to see what it was-a grey number "6" glued to the wall.

"That's it?" I said aloud, angry at the number of inconveniences this offered. "You're telling me that the halls are numbered, but they're so high up and coloured grey against a metal wall that's the same colour so that I can't even see them easy?"

Simon smiled again, this time a bit bigger. "I spotted them no problem."

"That's because you're tall as hell and you're the only person who notices these kinds of things!" I shouted at him. It's true; when I came here the first time with him, he was the first to notice the creases on the school wall that hid the entrance down here. He also looked around every corner and figured out the whole place down here followed the same outline as the school above us (I figured he must have been a student here).

Nothing was said for the remainder of the trip, and we made it to a big door labeled with a "D1" in tiny print on the side of it. Simon grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, revealing my so-called 'dad' sitting on a chair, holding something like a monitor.

"...so you know what happened back at the mall?" I could hear the smallest sounds of John coming from the square tablet.

"John's still under questioning, then?" I asked him. I brought him in, and if these guys do anything to him, God help me, I will murder them. I was going to get him out of here, and that's that.

He pressed something on the monitor and I heard it hum as it shut down. He put it on his lap and looked at us, a mixture of amusement and annoyance on his face. "You sound like you like him."

I frowned even deeper. "It sounds like you're telling him things that you never told me, your 'daughter'." I retorted back.

"He's more mature than you, that's why." I had to bite my tongue to stop myself from jumping at him. I clenched my fists behind my back and looked down at the cement floor. "Mr. Kries. What are you doing here?"

Simon straightened up and looked directly at Sing, eyes unwavering. I half-expected him to salute. "Mr. Sing, Mara and I were on patrol for the night, and we encountered...intruders."

"Intruders? Elaborate." Sing said the exact same words that went through my head. My eyes narrowed in curiosity and I looked up from the ground to look at him, still stoic as ever.

"We found a man with a Growlithe and a Misdreavus in H3. It looked like they were looking for something or someone."

I froze at the sentence. _A Misdreavus? It can't be Maria, can it? But why was she here? It's still too early in the morning, and I...oh shit. She was the only one I didn't knock out with the Sleep Powder..._

Sing glared at me, but I glared right back. "Really now." He turned back to Simon. "Where's your Marowak?"

"She's handling the situation right now." Simon said curtly.

Sing bared his teeth like a dog readying for lunch. "Damn. And Bill was found unconscious from his shift outside the entrance." _Really? Did the Growlithe take him, or Maria? _"Tasha, you're going with Simon and help him out. Here." He reached into his suit and pulled out a familiar Pokeball covered in scratches. My eyes lit up, and my fingers were flexing eagerly. "Simon, keep an eye on her. Make sure she doesn't get in over her head about all this." He bent down and rolled the ball my way. I caught it and pressed the white button, releasing my favourite Pikachu from its confines.

"Ugh, wha...what happened? How long was I-"

"Now get out, and don't come back until you have the intruders in locks." Sing's voice boomed in the room, echoing off the walls. Bolt turned around and faced Sing, and jumped at the sight of him.

"You!" he yelled at him, and him and Sing engaged in a short staring battle, the latter looking ready to kill. Until I took him away in my arms, that is.

"Yes, I get it. Nowletsfindthoseintruders!" I gasped out as I ran out the door and shut it loudly behind me, rubbing Bolt's rough fur on my cheeks. I breathed out in relief; I haven't seen Bolt for days, I felt like jumping for joy at this point.

"Hey, what's going on?" I heard his tired voice ask me. I looked at him closely; his imprisonment in his Pokeball didn't look very healthy for him. His zigzagged tail was limp, his eyes were half-closed, and he lost some of his yellow shine from his skin. He wasn't just tired. He was hungry, bad. "That was Sing, wasn't it?"

"Yeah." I whispered to him, still afraid of what could have happened back in the room. Sing was a minor, but significant member of the government, and as such, he had access to many things, including guns. You work out the rest of the thought process. "But don't worry about him. I'll tell you everything on the way. We need to find a few intruders in this secret base." I told him as I dropped him to the ground. Even when fatigued, he looked up for a fight, and his eyes shone with excitement.

The door swooshed open and Simon stepped out. "Let's go." He sounded even more annoyed than usual. "It's almost 3 and I want to get some sleep."

...

"So, who are we looking for?" Bolt asked tiredly while running beside me.

"A young man, a Growlithe, and a Misdreavus." Simon cut me off before I could take a breath. He was running next to me, and this was probably the first time I've ever seen him run, and his lack of exercise was obvious; it's only been a minute and already he was panting, and he even wiped his brow of sweat once or twice.

"Huh? A Misdreavus?" When Bolt said that, I remembered-the only time he saw Maria was with that girl and the Ninetales.

I nodded in confirmation. "Yes, it's the same Misdreavus from the first time." I said shortly. I was becoming out of breath as well, and decided to keep my mouth shut for the upcoming battle.

After another minute of running, we reached H4, and something entered my nostrils. It was like charred wood and ash. I wasn't too off-we made it to the end of the hall and into H3, and the first thing to come out of my mouth was "Hot damn." In the middle of the hall, the walls and floor were painted black like a stick of dynamite went off in it. The scent of soot was heavy, and I could see flakes of it in the air mixing with the dust. The lights overhead was blinking, so I knew something big had to have gone down here.

"Mara."

Before I could take in the scenery, Simon was running-_sprinting-_towards to the middle of the explosion site, breathing more audible than before. He knelt down and brushed some of the black with his pale hands, creating a noticeable contrast. He scooped something amongst the mess and I ran up to see it-it was Mara, covered in ash.

"Mara." I heard Simon whisper, his entire body shaking at the sight of what he held in his arms. The poor Pokemon looked like a doll tossed in an incinerator, surviving through sheer luck. Before any tears could come out of my eyes, I forced myself to look away from the survivor. Instead, I saw something else in the midst of the scene and bent down to inspect it closely. I rubbed the cinders off and the object almost glowed white as it conflicted with the dark dust.

"...don't...mine..."

Before I could get a closer look, I dropped the mystery object like it was on fire, alerted by the noise. It made a loud clatter on the floor, and I turned to see Mara's brown eyes open, but just barely. Simon was trying his best to rub her skull helmet clean, but only creating thick smudgy line across it. Somehow, it only made her even more intimidating, like a walking corpse.

"Simon...my club..." Mara whispered. It was almost painful to watch her, and I held my breath to keep myself from becoming sick. I gingerly picked up the object I dropped with 2 fingers, and walked next to Simon. He snatched it from me faster than I could blink and placed it on Mara's burnt chest. She slowly raised a hand to the weapon, and gave a long sigh of relief.

"Oh good...still there." She gripped the bone hard, and gave another sigh. "Just some...first-aid. I'll...live." Somehow, even with her entire head covered, I thought I saw her smile. One more gasp for air, and she closed her eyes and started breathing regularly. Slowly, but regularly.

Simon stopped shaking, and got to his feet. He wasn't crying, but he gave a loud sniff before recollecting himself. I never knew he could be like this. He was so emotionless whenever I saw him. "I'll get Mara patched up. You chase those intruders down."

"Wait, by 'you', you mean me?" Bolt spoke up. I completely forgot he was with me, and I too got to my feet in surprise. "You can't be thinking I take on 2 Pokemon by myself?" He looked positively aghast, and had his mouth open in disbelief.

"You've had more fighting experience than any one of us. I'm sure Mara did some work to slow them down. Now go, you don't want to get an earful from your dad." Without further ado, he ran back down the hall, to report to Sing a second time no doubt.

"For the last time, he ain't my dad!" I yelled at him, to no avail. I gave a groan of helplessness-Simon got his own problems now, and I've got my own. "Whatever. Bolt, we're going after them. One player, a Growlithe, and Maria!"

As I ran back to the hall to go down another corridor, Bolt wondered out loud. "Who's Maria? The Misdreavus?"

"Yeah, that ghost-type with her annoying Confuse Ray crap." I responded bitterly, remembering our previous visit when I thought that messy volleyball was her. It was so embarrassing when he told me how I looked like while he was dragging me to his place! "And now we got that Growlithe to take care of. If he roasted that hallway like that, then he's got to be tough as hell. I don't want to fight any more than any of us here, but no doubt their pissed."

Honestly, despite my experience with battling Pokemon, I didn't want to fight them. Why? Because we didn't _need_ to fight. If I can just explain the situation to them, that I want to help get John out of here, then we'll have a much better chance at ditching Sing and the others. And with no security cameras installed in her like a department store, they won't be the wiser at what happened.

_I need to find John, quick..._

...

Maria's POV

_Come on, come on, come on! Where is he!_

Even with Grey's sense of smell, I can't help but think we've been going around in circles in this metal maze. "Hey, you sure your nose ain't busted or something in that fight?" I hollered at Gray. I wasn't the only one getting tired; I could see Kyle's skin shining with sweat and Gray was panting louder and louder with every hallway we passed.

"Not exactly, but I'm just as frustrated as you." Grey barked at me. He suddenly stopped running, but none of us complained-we could use a breather. "John's scent's spreading." He explained as he gasped for air.

"What? You mean's you can't smell him down anymore?" I asked him, louder that necessary at the shock.

"Actually, no. It's just that his scent's spread everywhere, so that I can't track him down accurately. NO matter where I go, I smell John. Maybe it's because of that Flame Burst?" He sounded worried, and so was I. I turned to Kyle, who had a flustered look.

"Hey, I had to make sure that crazy Marowak would stay off our tail, and Flame Burst was the most effective in the situation." Those words sent a small sting in my gut, reminding me of how Mara looked like after the attack.

I shivered at the memory, but brushed it off. "Well, what the hell do we do now? We just check out every room we see until we find one with him in it?" I groaned out loud at the thought. I looked around exasperatedly for any doors, but this particular hallway was completely void of any.

"HEY! STOP!"

We jumped at the shrill noise and looked at the only direction in could have come from-behind. At the end of the hallway, stood the girl that started all this, her trusty Mouse Pokemon by her side. Her short black hair was matted onto her forehead, soaked with sweat from her obvious run here, and her hoodie-covered arms were resting on her knees for breath. Bolt, however, looked ready for battle, and I could see his white teeth as he growled towards us.

With all the trouble she gave us and all the hell she made me go through, of course the first thing I did was charge right at her, ready to tackle her to the ground.

"Yoooooou!" I was screaming myself hoarse like a berserker, but understand that she's made me go through 2 beatings ever since she took away John, and she's just going to get _one _beating from me. That sounds fair to me. I could hear Kyle screaming but my roaring muffled it down. Besides, I could care less about Kyle at the moment.

She looked absolutely shocked at my reaction, wide-eyed and mouth hanging open-just the look I wanted to see! I stopped my screams and braced myself for impact.

_Oh ho ho, I've been waiting to do this for a while, ever since her Bolt tackled me to the wall! Here's one for Mitsune too!_

...and I would have launched her off her feet, if Bolt hadn't gotten in my way. The last thing I saw was a bright grey flash, and something hit my face _hard_, sending me flying in the opposite direction while getting a dull sense of déjà vu in my aching head. But it didn't stop there-a second in the air, and I collided brutally with the ceiling, its rough texture scratching away my skin. I gritted my teeth, letting out a muffled screech of agony as I fell to the ground, all remaining strength drained out of my body. I landed on the ground with a painful thud, letting out a small grunt of pain. And although I doubt my body was capable of doing something like this, I was fairly certain my face was bleeding.

"Hey, what the hell?" My eyes were shut tight from the pain, but I knew it was Kyle's voice. "Hey, girl! You're Tasha, right? Call off that Pikachu!"

I couldn't see what was going on-I was too focused on handling the pain. "Who're you?" Tasha asked in her usual rude tone.

"Kyle. Alex never told you about me?"

After a few seconds (I'm guessing Tasha was shaking her head to say no), Kyle spoke up again. "Look, we just want to find John. That Misdreavus your Pikachu just Iron Tailed in the face belongs to him. Just tell us where he is, and you can get the hell out of here." He sounded impatient, and I heard Gray snarling angrily.

_Ugh, my head...Kyle, her Pikachu just, what did you call that move? Iron Tail? She just launched me into the ceiling with that, and you think you can just tell her to leave? Damn, this hurts like hell! I wish I had hands to massage my head with!_

"Uh, no. How about you leave, and I'll find him myself. I know my way around here better than you do. You'll just be useless hands. Just leave this to me."

Through the pain, I managed get back in the air and let out a complaint. "What? Listen, you! We don't want to be here anymore than you do, but I'm not leaving here without John! So give us one good reason why we should trust a single word you say!"

I opened my eyes to look at Tasha. Unfortunately, instead I was facing a wide-eyed Kyle with his mouth slightly open. He seemed to have taken my little speech to be directed at him, and I felt an immediate rush of embarrassment in my stomach. Gray had a wide grin and was silently giggling to himself.

_Probably remembering what he said to me about being John's..._My face was turning slightly hot as I tried to break the awkward silence. "She's...behind me, isn't she?" I asked pointlessly, not knowing whether to smile or look away from his gaze in shame.

"Yeah." Kyle replied, not sure what to do in this situation. He scratched his cheek with a small smile. "Your face, its uhm...kinda messed." He was right; every inch of my face was stinging and throbbing like it was covered in mosquito bites, and when I licked my lips I tasted something salty; like iron.

"Aw crap." I groaned as the agony of my face doubled. "Is this what bleeding's like?" I tried to laugh it off, but moving my mouth only ended up increasing the pain even further.

"Here." Kyle took out a small plastic bag from his pocket. At first my face brightened up at the sight of some relief, but his explanation brushed the thought away. "Don't have a first-aid kit on me, but this should help a bit." He peeled off the colourful sticker, and pulled out a handful of paper napkins. "You can clean yourself with this."

"Thanks." I grabbed the tissues and brought it to my face. It was gross at the least-the absorbent cloth quickly drained my face of any blood. When I finished, I opened my eyes to see the mess I made-it wasn't much, but there were splotches and streaks of reddish-purple, more red than purple. "Gah, gross." I levitated the tissue for all to see. Gray uttered a quick "Yech" while Kyle was rather curious.

"Don't think of it like that, As far as I'm concerned, that _gross_ stuff came from you." Kyle commented, allowing a small grin. "Keep the tissue. I'm not filling my pockets with blood from a ghost Pokemon."

_Huh, didn't know ghost-types even __have__ blood. With the whole 'we're ghosts' thing..._

"_Ahem."_

The sudden noise made all of us jump, and I faced Tasha, who looked bored at our private conversation. "If you're done talking, then you get out of-"

"We're not leaving!" I widened my eyes as I realized everyone of us, Kyle and Gray, shouted out in unison. Tasha actually took a step back in shock and Bolt was getting ready to pounce at us.

"Let me ask you the same thing!" Bolt growled. It would have been rather cute if he couldn't electrocute you or smash you to the wall. "Why should we trust you? A complete stranger, his Pokemon, and _you_, just tried to attack me."

I felt my stomach drop at those words. They were true, and I they were right to distrust me, at least for now. "Look." I nervously started. "I know these guys. They've been buddies with Alex for months. I trust them, even if he gave John some shit in the past. Without that Growlithe, I would have died back with Marowak! If you and that man have Pokemon, then it's obvious there would be more."

"That's exactly right. Why are you so adamant about this? Nothing wrong with a few helping hands. We just want to get out with John." It lightened my heart a lot to see Gray and Kyle back me up like this. I smiled and looked at Tasha, who stared at the ground while Bolt relaxed and lowered his erect tail.

"...I brought him here." Tasha said in an almost whisper. I heard trembling, and her fists were shaking by her side. "It's...it's my fault he's here. They had Bolt hostage. I had to get John, they made me! God knows what they would have done to him if I rebelled again. But that's no excuse. I brought him here, and it's my fault." Tasha took a deep breath, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm responsible. You guys get caught, and Sing's going to go nuts. He's got an iron fist on all of us. You need to get out of here."

We kept quiet for a minute, shocked at this reveal. Every one of us had our mouths open and I was replaying her message over in my head, trying to absorb this piece of information. So Tasha was just trying to save her Pokemon? That's the reason for all this? _Why? Why?_

"Why didn't you tell us about all this?" I demanded, frustrated that she was holding this secret back.

"If I did, do you think you could have kept quiet about it? Could John? No. You would just take me to Nio's, talk it over, and make up a plan. The last thing I need is more innocent people involved. It was going to be simple-sneak John in here, get Bolt, bust out John, and get the hell out of here! And now, we've got all this shit mixed up." she growled.

I couldn't believe it. All this time, I thought I was doing to right thing, but now she's telling me that everything I did was not just pointless, but counterproductive?

_She had everything planned out...from sneaking John out to getting out of here. While I just plowed through my way with no plan, no idea on what to do other than getting John out. Hell, even that giraffe Pokemon and Mara...we could have avoided all that? And now Alex's saw me, and he brought Kyle too?_

"I fucked up..." was all I could say, my brain too heavy from the revelation, and I fell to the ground, defeated in all grounds.

"It's too late now." Kyle muttered. "Maria already took a Girafarig and his player down, and I nearly killed a Marowak. Sing and his people are already pissed off. Are there anyone else with Pokemon here?"

"There's Mr. Jobe Vadres with a Kadabra named Kilik, Ms. Bezel, and Mr. Audie. Don't know the latter two's full names or Pokemon. They work for Sing, and they work for the rehab program. And if you're thinking about how adults have Pokemon, well let's just say that rule about Pokemon was only for kids is bullshit." Tasha said shortly.

"And you thought you could take them alone? Are you crazy?" Kyle shouted at her, and she looked at the ground.

"I don't plan on facing them. Just getting John out of here." Tasha countered, albeit quietly. "We're wasting too much time. Those 3 guys I mentioned are interrogating John right now." She clenched her fists by her side. She brushed her black hair back and looked at us with unwavering eyes. "Fine, come with me. Growlithe have sharp noses, right?" Gray gave a loud bark of certainty. "We'll go back through the way I came, and how about you see if you can find his scent better?"

Kyle gave a grunt of agreement. "Sounds like a plan. Maria, can you get up?"

"Huh...? Oh, yeah." I shook myself back into reality, and hovered eye-level to Kyle. Suddenly, I felt my strength zapped away from my body, and I crashed back to the ground.

"Guh, what the..." My eyes were quickly growing tired, but I held them open.

"Fatigue." Kyle explained. He looked like he was going to pick me up, but one piercing gaze from me was enough to make him think twice. "You're tired. You fought 2 Pokemon and took that Iron Tail hard so your face is still a bit wrecked. And you said every time you tried Pain Split, it failed."

"Well, actually, the first couple times it worked-"

"Anyways, the point is you're too exhausted to fight."

"What's wrong with that?" I immediately asked him, ticked that he would think I would act like this, especially in a situation when John's in danger. "I can still go. If we meet another Pokemon, I'll just use Pain Split, and I'll be back in action." I probably shouldn't have answered so suddenly, because I was out of breath and I was panting for oxygen after such a short rant.

"Alright, fine. But you can still fly, right?"

"Can do." After one last gasp, I managed to get myself airborne. "Hopefully, we won't have to fight again in the first place. Let's go!"

Without further words, we silently made our way through the corridors.

...

John's POV

"So, that's it?"

"Yes. We're done here." Mr. Audie finished. "You can go now. But please keep our meeting here a secret. The whole reason we brought you here so late is that no one would notice your disappearance. You need to get home ASAP. Please understand why we had to do this."

"No, no it's fine. I get it." Despite their intimidating atmosphere, they were pretty friendly to me in the end. Things didn't get too violent (other than an argument between the Kadabra and Mr. Audie, which helped with the tension a _lot_), and they didn't dig too deep in terms of secrets. The only disappointment was that they didn't answer most of my questions. They said that in the end, they were questioning me, not the other way around, and while they information they provided was sparse, it was relieving to know that these guys weren't guys I had to fight.

"If you like the deal, call Mr. Sing. He gave you his card, right?" Mr Vadres asked. He got up and walked next to me.

I nodded. Mr. Vadres gave a small smile. "I'll drive you home. Tasha gave me her address while driving you here."

"Don't you mean 'kidnapping'?" Ms. Bezel commented. She and I both smile while Vadres grumbled curses under his breath.

"Be quiet. If we had to get this kid in daytime, it would attract too much attention. It would have been impossible for Tasha to get John." Mr. Audie berated. He got up from his seat as well.

"What about Tasha?" I asked them. It's been scratching the back of my skull this whole time, about her and her real background, and her connection with Mr. Sing. "What's she going to do now? What's going to happen to her?"

"She's probably going to go back to her father's place. Who wouldn't; he may not like her very much, but she's still his daughter. And if she gets hurt in any way, it only reflects on what a parent he is." Ms. Bezel said in with a gentle grin. "No woman like a man who can't take care of his kids."

"And how do you know that? Just because you're one of them?" Mr. Audie laughed. He got off from his seat as well, and walked to the door behind us. "But enough joking around. We're all tired from this questioning, and _you_," he gestured to me. "have a lot to think about once you get back home." He grabbed the door handle, but before he pulled, something from behind pushed.

It was the teen from before, Simon Kries. He had his hands to his knees and gasping for air like he ran a marathon (which is no exaggeration, considering how big and confusing this place is). But what scared me most was his Marowak on the ground next to her. Black soot was smudged all over her body like she's been tossed into a fireplace. Her once white skull mask had a large crack down the middle, and her eyes were shut tight by what was obviously pain.

"Please, where's the first-aid kit?" He screamed at us, worry in his tone and body gesture. "She's got some serious burns!"

"Calm down!" Mr. Vadres ordered sharply. "What happened? An attack?"

"Yes!" He panted in panic. "A man, with a Growlithe and a Misdreavus! Tasha's fighting them now!"

"Fuck!" Mr. Vadres growled behind his teeth as he stomped his feet in rage. "Sing's going to kill us! John, We're sorry, but we need to take care of this! Wait here with Kries and help him out!" He pointed to a blue box behind the table we sat around. "There's more than just first-aid in that box! Use it! We'll come back later, after we take care of this!"

Quick as a flash, all 3 adults left the room, and Simon carried Mara's limp body through the room to the box. He opened the lid and rummaged through indiscriminate containers until he pulled out a red backpack with a white cross on it. He unzipped in and flipped in upside-down, emptying it of all its bandages, pills, scissors, and other medicinal items. All the while, he was saying soothing words to Mara, who looked annoyed at the fact the one who needed soothing was Simon.

I, meanwhile, was too busy with a new train of thought running through my mind.

_A Misdreavus? Maria! She's here? A man with a Growlithe? Kyle's here too! What the hell are __they__ doing here?_

...

**Alright, I'm back! After a month of inactivity, here's a new chapter for you all!**

**My trip in South Korea was rather incredible, with dozen of tourist spots to visit every day. I won't go in-detail about what I did, but in case you want to visit there, a few pointers: humid weather in the summer, pro bus drivers, and mountains. Mountains everywhere.**

**Well, I read the reviews and I count about 9 reviews. Not bad, but over the course of 3 weeks, I expected more (not you, Draconis, you've helped out a lot with 4 reviews! )**

**Hopefully, with summer vacation in full effect, I'll be able to upload more chapters more often! I looked to seeing you guys' comments next time!**


	33. You Shall Not Pass!

Maria's POV

"Where're we going?!" I screamed at Tasha running ahead of me. At this point, it was entirely up to her on finding John. But if she's leading us to a trap, then she's not getting away. Kyle and Gray were keeping an eye on her.

"D1!"

"What?!"

"Door #1!" She hollered back. She kept speeding up, and I was getting drowsier with every corridor we passed through. I kept on biting my tongue to stay focused, but it was becoming less and less effective. "It's where Sing's at! I don't know where John's at, but he was watching the interrogation, so he _has_ to know where he is!"

_Damn it! This isn't what I had in mind! You said you were going to take us to John, not Sing! "_Whatever happened to sneaking around?" Kyle asked besides her.

"Hey! If it's not for me, you'd all just be wandering around like idiots! I know the path, we just need to find the room before any of his goons finds us!" She answered, turning around to look at me. "Catch up! You said you could keep going!"

"I can, so shut it!" I screamed again, and I ended up emptying my lungs of precious air. When I took another breath, my throat was starting to tingle, and in the next second, burn. _Damn! Dry throat!_

I had to cough a few time to stop my throat's inflammation, but I managed to do it without alerting the others. However, the monotony of the venture was getting to me, and I decided to bring up a conversation in the group to keep me awake. "Hey, Tasha," I panted as I caught up with her. "Just asking, what's Sing to you?"

"He's not my dad!" she shouted, making every one of us jump. Kyle was staring at her wide-eyed, but Gray and Bolt remained focused except for a slight groan from Bolt. "Here we go again..."

"I didn't say he was!" I shouted back, flustered by her sudden reaction. "I just asked how he's related to you!"

She flashed her teeth like a wild animal, but she kept how mouth shut before coming up with an answer. "Isn't it obvious? I was an orphan. He adopted me, and now that I've got Pokemon, he wants me to help with his little project."

"Well...that much is obvious." I responded with a sigh. "I mean just what about him do you hate? You work for him, but you despise him so much. What do you have against this guy?"

Tasha took a bit longer to answer this time. She looked troubled, like she was remembering some painful pasts-licking her lips, forehead crinkling, the usual signs. "Sing's a depressing and depressive dad. He was always so busy with work, and with a divorce, it's obvious he's not a good parent. And I don't mean he's a bad parent like an alcoholic, or something like that-he's never around the house, and he didn't even send me to school."

"Really?" Kyle spoke up, sounding genuinely shocked at the idea. "All underage children are supposed to attend school, and you can't get around that, since schooling's free for everyone. How'd he get around that?"

"He explained the education board-"

"Board of Education?" Kyle corrected, smirking.

"Yeah, that." Tasha snarled. "He said he was homeschooling me, so I didn't have to go to school, and that I was tutored at home. But it was just excuses. Every day, from the day I got adopted, was the same: I'd wake up, I find a 20 dollar bill on the table, and I would spend my time roaming. It was scary at first, with the change of scenery, but then it got fun, being able to do whatever you wanted...until it got boring after a couple years.." she said with a small smile at the remembrance.

_Yikes...what kind of childhood is that?_

"At first, when I found out about Bolt, he was happy; a lot happier than I've ever seen him. No matter what I did, I never saw him smile no matter how hard I tried (not that I tried particularly hard.) He said that with Bolt, I could help him with this 'Pokemon problem', as he called it. I went along with it, wondering why all of a sudden he loved me like a proper daughter, and he told me what I would be doing: finding others with Pokemon." Her smile widened, but I saw something else in that face and tone that looked familiar, second to mild amusement.

"It wasn't too hard. Bolt was really cooperative and it was obvious, the job: convince the players I find to come with me to Sing, or force them. If all fails, kill them."

"Whoa whoa, wait what?" I shrieked out indignantly. "You mean you've actually killed Pokemon this whole time? For what, just to suck up to Sing?!"

"I know, I know, I know!" She cried, clutching and pulling at her hair. "I must have killed at least ten Pokemon during this whole time! I know what I did was bad!" She wiped her eyes with her sleeve again, but kept running. We stopped at the end of the corridor, and she took a moment to read the letters on the walls. A few seconds later, we were running again to the right.

"He said he needed me. I had something only I could do. For once, he needed me for something he wanted, needed! You wouldn't know how that feels, would you!" She exclaimed, catching me off-guard. "John had money, friends, family! I had none of that until I met Bolt! You wouldn't know-you people always took things for granted!"

She turned back to me, a horrible wretched looked pasted on her face. Teeth bared, eyes wet, her hair flying everywhere. "But now, Sing wanted me to kidnap John. Either that, or get Bolt killed, or worse! You see now why I did the things I did?!"

It was then I realized, through my stupefied brain, what I saw in her smile from before-pride. The same pride I had with John. Her pride from her father's recognition, from her work with him, after how many years of living with such a distant, callous man-_how did she ever make it this far?_

In the pit of my stomach, I felt everything in my whole body squirm and they felt as if they were drowning in shame and guilt. Everything she said, about me and John, even if they weren't, I knew they held some grain of truth, and I couldn't conceive how she saw us, because I never lived like she did, thanks to John. From the beginning, he took care of me, until I had a good grip on how to live like him. Then came Jess and Kari for John, and Mitsune and Mac for me. They helped get me stronger, and enough to fight the Magmortar. And Alex and Nio, they gave me reason to keep fighting, to get stronger so I could protect and fight for John and others.

But she had nothing. Nothing but Bolt to call her own. I really can't comprehend her thinking.

"Yes, I do."

Every one of us gasped when we heard Kyle speak. He's been silent this whole time, but now he made himself known.

"Although I might be wrong, considering my childhood is a bit different. My mother was dead, and my father a drunk, I took a job at this very school as its bully. You had 20 bucks for the day's meals? I got nothing, so I gorged on the cafeteria foods to last me the day. After my dad was finally arrested for child abuse, my grandparents took care of me. Not very exciting, but it sounds a lot better than the life you had." Kyle slowed down to a halt, with the rest of us following suit.

"I don't know or care too much about what's between you and Sing, but after we take care of this, you can leave him." I gave a silent "Huh?" at this notion. "You're underage, and if you get in trouble, Sing will take the blame, since he's your legal guardian, if what you say about being an orphan's true. I haven't planned what you'll do after; that's for you to decide."

Tasha was silent for a minute, but resumed talking in a bit cheerier tone. A small hopeful smile crept to her face. "That's a good idea, but the problem remains; what will I do after this? And where will I go?"

None of us had a chance to answer, because as soon as we reached the end of the hall, something from the right pushed us back hard, smashing all of us to the wall. Since I had no back to hit something against, my head filled that role. All of a sudden, the throbbing of pain from my skull doubled and I fell to the ground, unable to think straight with this pulsing sensation in my head.

"Well, looks like we found them. That Future Sight really worked huh?" was all I heard from the man who no doubt attacked us. The world was spinning around me like a car out of control, and I had a queerest feeling of going sick.

"What...the hell..." I opened my eyes and saw the scene. Everyone was lying on the ground like me, except for 2 figures-a Kadabra and his trainer. He had blond hair and wore glasses he was adjusting.

"You must be Mr. Vadres talked about, right?" I shrugged to my left and saw Kyle and Gray getting back on their feet (the latter giving a loud snarl and the offender.) "Your Kadabra's proof."

"So Tasha's spilled the beans? That's treason worthy of execution in most countries." Audie growled. "Kilik, try that move again."

"We're not giving you a chance!" This time it was Tasha, furious by the sound of it. "Thunderbolt"

I was exhausted beyond belief to do much other than hearing the sounds of electricity crackle through the air. I shut my eyes and looked away from the bright light, as if it would help me avoid the yellow lightning. After the white light passed, I slowly opened my eyes to see the damage Bolt did.

Unfortunately, not a whole lot. Kadabra and his trainer were still standing, but a massive translucent wall, as if made of multicoloured glass, protected them from the electric attack.

_What the hell is that? This is my first time seeing a defensive move! _

"Kilik, try a Psybeam at the downed Misdreavus."

I watched helplessly as the Kadabra waved his spoon-carrying hand, and the glass faded away like magic. He raised the same spoon in front of him and in a blink, a rainbow-coloured beam shot out.

"AAAAAHG!" I shrieked as loud as my throat would allow. My left eyeball had been pushed into my skull-that was the only explanation I could think of. My voice echoed just as loud throughout the entire hallway, scaring me as much as any other. I continued to scream in agony and fear as my eye started to sting and burn. I started to thrash about, banging my head in an effort to lessen the pain, and while bruising my head further did not help out my eye in the least, it did give me something to take my panic out on.

"Maria!" I barely heard Kyle, but the rest were drowned in my scream. It wasn't until something grabbed me that I let out a big "GET AWAY!" and I let out a hasty Psywave at the phalanges. My assaulter dropped me, and I started to fly in the direction back. However, due to my clumsy flight and exhaustion, I felt myself lowering in altitude until I crashed back to the ground, intensifying my injury even further.

At this point, my entire body was drained of energy, and my screams of suffering were reduced to loud whimpers. I didn't have the strength or the heart to get back up, and I dug my face further into the ground, as if to hide in shame.

"Maria!" I felt footsteps through the earth and some other indistinguishable noises in the background. I felt a soft hand touch my hair, but this time I couldn't react the slightest to it, other than my eye feeling like a hot poker jabbed through it.

"Maria, are you alright?!" This time, I could identify the voice as Tasha's, and I was downright _pissed._

"No! I'm just fine! I just got my eyeball blown up! I got one left!" I screamed at her. That was the only explanation-my left eyeball.

"Maria please! Gray and Bolt's fighting off Vadres, and I need to take a look at it!" Tasha was begging so hard I thought I could hear her crying as she did. Under her voice, I could hear the distant sound of an explosion, and I knew she was right.

I clenched my teeth, the pain lessening but still unbearably painful, and I turned to face the direction of the voice, shutting my eyes tight to keep from damaging the wound further. I tried my best to open only my right eye, and I saw a blurry face covered in black hair in an uncomfortable distance from me. Despite it, I kept still to let Tasha inspect the wound, not that I could have done anything else.

After a few seconds, Tasha brushed some of my hair out of the way. I felt something slick on my left cheek as she did, and Tasha gave a quiet "Uch" of disgust. "Open your eye. I need to see it."

I was completely drained of strength to even move at this point, so I silently complied. At first, I couldn't open it, as if there was glue sticking my eyelids together. After a couple tries though, I saw a crack of light through my left eye. After a few more moments of painful stinging and blinding flashes, I exposed at least half a centimeters worth of my eye (or whatever that was left) to Tasha.

"Huh, I can still...see through this thing?" I groaned out. "I imagined my eyeball would be broken at this point..."

"Don't worry too much; from the look of it, it missed just above your eye." I could see Tasha in full view, rubbing something red between her fingers. She looked terrified at the damage I've got, and she quickly wiped her eyes with her already-wet sleeve. "It's not too bad. I expected more blood, but anyways-you're in no condition to battle."

"Wha-no!" I interjected, panting for oxygen. "Don't you see? If I'm this wrecked, then all I need is one hit on that Kadabra, and I could take it out, and get back on my feet!"

"No way, and you don't have feet!" she shouted back. "One more hit like that, and you're really going to die!"

"I don't care!" I cried out even louder, making her flinch. "Now shut up and get out of the way or I'll Pain Split with _you!_"

That shut her up. She covered her face with trembling hands, and while I felt like a complete bitch for threatening her like that, I _had_ to get in that fight, one way or another. If Bolt couldn't get an attack through, then what could Gray do?

I took one, two, three deep breaths, and with a heavy sensation of nausea, I managed to turn transparent. But this wouldn't last long, nor was the invisibility perfect-I could see a hint of pink from my hair swaying to and fro with my ascending into the air. _I have to get over there, and one clean shot's all I need for it to work..._

As I flew by, I was spectator to the fight Gray, Bolt, and the Kadabra was making. Gray spat out a large pillar of fire at the psychic Pokemon (I'm guessing it was a Flamethrower. Sure had the look of it), the Kadabra raised up his glass wall again, completely separating the fire from him and his trainer. However, as soon as the flames and the wall disappeared, a thin, long stream of electricity darted across the gap between the Pokemon, and struck the Kadabra on his forehead, earning a _very_ gratifying roar of pain from him.

"Kilik, what is it?!" the man behind him asked out in sudden panic.

I raised my altitude, and saw the scene from above. The Kadabra, Kilik, was visibly twitching, from his bushy mustache down to his clawed toes; he was shivering like he had a cold. "I...I can't...move-!"

"Thunder Wave, comes in handy." I turned to my left and saw Bolt with a wide smile, nodding alongside Gray and Kyle. I couldn't help but smile with him, but I ended the cheery moment and got back to my current mission.

_That's good. Keep him distracted like that, and that paralysis really helps, thanks!_

I tried to ignore the battle as best as I could, as keeping up my invisibility actually required some effort now. Usually, turning and staying transparent was second nature to me, like walking, but now I felt like even a sneeze could throw my disguise off. Luckily, I was almost past Kilik and the trainer Vadres. Now all I had to do was take them by surprise from behind.

But before I could make another move, it felt like something exploded in my brain, splitting my skull. I couldn't take it anymore, and I let out a painful shriek before finally falling to the ground. At this point, I've taken so much abuse that I couldn't even feel my face of its injuries, and I could only gasp for air helplessly.

"Well, look what we've got here." Before I could even move my eyeballs upward, a hand grabbed a fistful of my hair and raised me up. I had no strength left, not with that mysterious headache. "A sneak attack. Sorry, but you're too beat up to do anything. "

"Maria!" I faintly heard Kyle screaming for me, but like Vadres said, I couldn't do anything.

"Now if you don't want your friend to get another Psybeam to the eye to match her first, get the fuck back!" Vadres roared, his coarse voice making my head hurt even more.

I couldn't see anything because of my fatigued state, but I guessed from the sudden silence, everyone took a step back.

After a few stings returned to my eye, I creaked both of them open and saw the ground below, looking like I was a hundred feet above. "Alright. Now follow me! Put your Pokemon in their balls and keep them and your hands where I can see them! If you don't..." I groaned as another headache made the world spin around before my eyes.

"My...my head..."

"Ah, a headache, Misdreavus?" As he said it, I heard several sounds of electric zapping, and I knew Gray and Bolt returned to the confines of the Pokeballs. Afterwards, I heard footsteps, and I saw 2 vague figures with their hands raised in the air. They walked past me, and Vadres and Kilik started to march behind them, shaking me and tugging on my hair ever further. "You should research Pokemon more before a fight. Kadabra emit alpha waves, and apparently, they can cause frequent headaches. Luckily I'm used to it, but you're not so lucky." He chuckled a bit after talking, making my stomach turn at his despicable attitude.

The next few minutes were just pure silence, but it was cut as I heard more footsteps down the current hallway. "Vadres, you found them?"-a woman's voice, one I've never heard before.

"Well who are they?" A man's voice this time, sounding angry. "Tasha! You stupid brat! What the hell are you doing with him!"

Silence. A furious groan came from the man. "This is why I hate children!" He gave a tired sigh, and started walking. "Well, let's take them to Sing. He'd want to see his daughter after all the trouble she's caused." I opened my eyes to take a look at the speaker, but a fat face with a shaved head was staring back, and I was left squirming in fear at the presence of this stranger. "My God, what did you do to this one?! It looks like you scraped its face with sandpaper!"

_I really look that bad? Maybe I should heal myself before my face stays this way._

My captor, Vadres, spoke up. "All the more reason to find Sing. We need to get her medical attention, and our room's where all the goods are. Simon should be done healing his Marowak; we need to get going!"

"What about our friends here?" the man asked angrily.

"We have them outnumbered, and this Misdreavus is half-dead." The woman's voice answered lazily. "Kilik can handle two children on his own."

"I guess so." Vadres said. "Get moving, all of you!" He swung around to face the "two children" (one of which was legally an adult. Just FYI), tugging at my hair even further.

As angry as all of us were, none of us made any sounds and kept going down the hall. I couldn't do anything; I was so exhausted that I fell asleep right then.

Tasha's POV

_Well, here we are, my dear father. Damn, I was so close..._

Audrey opened the door and there he was, sitting behind his office desk with papers covering it like a collage. "So these are the 'intruders'? A boy, a Misdreavus and...Tasha, of course." He sounded particularly disappointed when he mentioned my name. "What happened to the Pokemon? It looks like a dish rag."

"She's the one who beat that guard out front and Mara!"

**SLAP!**

I spun my head back at the sudden but predictable force. The left side of my cheek was burning as blood rushed to it, but held back a sob. My legs were shaking trying to keep my body upright, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me like this. I kept my head low and looked at the ground. I glanced to the side, and saw Kyle with a horrified look on his face.

"That was for talking back to me like that, you ungrateful..."

**PWAK!**

This one was new-his knuckles smashed to my right this time and I flew back at the force of his punch, burning my cheekbone and jaw. I tried to balance myself, but I only got my feet tangled and ended up falling to the ground, hitting the back of my head on the hard floor. Despite this new form of abuse, I wasn't ready to give in yet, only letting out a small "Krrk!" at my newly-acquired head injury.

"Tasha!" I heard Kyle shout out. I got to my feet and rubbed behind my head to ease the pain, and I slowly walked back beside him. "You...isn't she your daughter!?"

"That was for trying to rebel _again_, you idiotic girl!" Sing growled menacingly from his throat. As much as I heard him use that tone, it never failed to make me shiver just a bit. "And to answer your question, Mr...?"

"Sullivan. Kyle Sullivan." He answered, fuming. If this was a cartoon, steam would be pouring out of his ears, and even now, it looked like smoke was coming out of his hair.

"Mr. Sullivan, if you keep talking out of turn like this, I just might..." Sing raised his left hand this time, and Kyle clenched his teeth for what was to come.

**PAK!**

"Gaah!" This time, I screamed out it pure surprise as his hand made its way across my face for the third time. Even though it was his left, it managed to absolutely _launch_ me across the room, hitting my head on not the floor, but the wall this time, bruising my back in tandem. I leaned on the wall to keep my balance at this point, as I limped back to my spot. The three adults behind Kyle, Vadres, Audie, and Bezel turned pale; aghast.

"What the he-!"

"Finish that _word_!" Sing roared into his face, his eyes burning. "And I will do it again!"

"Keh!" Kyle was positively shaking with anger at this point, loving nothing more than to choke the life out of my father. But after a few seconds, his flexing fingers curled into a ball, and it was kept like that behind his back.

"Mr. Vadres, Mr. Audie, Ms. Bezel. Leave the Misdreavus on the ground. No need for you here anymore. You are dismissed." Sing barked at them before walking back to his chair.

They looked startled by the recent domestic violence, but the complied. Vadres laid Maria on the ground next to me as if he was about to bury her, and after a moment of silence, they bowed facing Sing before walking out the door.

_Cheh, of course they would just walk out of here as fast as possible._

"Tasha, I told you before," Sing started as if nothing just happened between us. "I don't need anyone to tell me that you betrayed me to get back John."

Silence, other than Maria's pained breathing.

"First off, I want to say that we've done nothing to him."

"Second, I would like to take the blame for all this mess you've made."

_That_ caught us off-guard. Both Kyle's and my mouth was open, but no words came out until Sing made a small smirk. "What are-"

"I wanted to keep this operation a secret as long as I could. I wanted to keep it a secret from you as much as possible." Sing's mouth curved downward, trying to look pathetic (which was pathetic in itself). "Like I told you before, you're very immature. _Very _immature." None of us smiled at the joke.

"Because of that, if I told you what we're doing down here, I figured you would just blab to anyone about all this, which would only attract unnecessary attention."

"What unnecessary attention?" I asked out loud. I looked at Kyle and he was still nervous about talking. I guess that threat really made an impact on him.

"You know very well there are other people out there with Pokemon for their own uses. If they discovered this place, they could throw my whole plan out of place. Just like you almost did tonight."

"What's your plan in the first place anyways? First off, what is this place?" I was about to explode from the questions just screaming to be let out.

"You still don't get it? An underground building in the format of one of the biggest schools I've ever seen? Dozens of rooms with beds and furniture?" He slapped his head and shook it in disappointment. "With so much independence, I expected you to be smarter than this.

Kyle gasped in unknown realization, making me even angrier at the confusion. A few more seconds, and a horrifying thought came to mind.

"This place...it's a giant underground base."

Sing smiled again, but he shrugged his shoulders as well. "Close. This place is a safe-house. For Pokemon and their trainers alike."

Nothing was said for the next five minutes, other than Sing proceeding with Maria's recovery. "Come on then. If you're done moping around, this ghost-type's in major trouble. Let's get he to the sick room."

Without a sound, I got to my feet. _When did I collapse like that, anyways? _Kyle carried a half-dead Maria in his arms and I followed behind him. I wasn't ever aware or cared about where we were headed.

_So all this time, I was wrong? My ideas about Sing were just completely paranoia? Oh God, I feel sick...!_

I awoke from my thoughts at the fact this "sick bay" was just across the hall. Specifically, 5 feet away from us. Even more specifically, directly in front of the room we came out of.

"Wait." Kyle spoke out gently, a tinge of fear still in his voice. "The sick bay's right in front of us?"

"Well, it not the actually sick bay, but it's where we keep all the goods, so it's as good as." Sing replied dully. If the situation was less tense, I could imagine all of us laughing our asses off at this ridiculousness. But we all kept quiet. "We need first-aid stat. This Misdreavus belongs to John, correct?"

I nodded dumbly. "Then she'll be happy to know he's in here."

"Really..."

As shell-shocked as I was, I jumped at the weak voice. We all looked at Maria, and she didn't look any better than before; blood in her hair and down her eye. She looked like a survivor of a bombing or something. "Hurry up then...I wanna sleep."

I couldn't help but be reminded of Simon and how he acted towards Mara. She was so banged up, but she still kept strong. I smiled a little, even with my previous reprimand fresh in memory and body.

Sing opened the door, and it looked remarkably similar to the Sing's room. A large desk, and chairs surrounding it. The only difference was that boxes were stacked up to the ceiling at the left side of the room. On the right side, Simon was trying to get a bandaged Mara to drink some water, while the ground-type tried to push the bottle away with her burnt arms.

Only thing missing-John.

...

**Thank goodness I'm done for this one. Damn, shit's hit the fan now, didn't it? Mara's beat up, Maria's beat up, and now Tasha's beat up. It actually pained to write the part, but hey, I needed some evidence to why Tasha would leave him in the first place (don't think too deep into that.)**

**Next chapter will focus back to Alex and his experience underground. Hope to see you readers enjoy this chapter for now!**


	34. Who Are You?

lex's POV

_This place, it looks the same as any other hallway, but no, there are differences. No one else could spot them but Light and me._

_Yes, and who should you be thanking, to grant you your ability to memorize all this? Me!_

"Quiet." Unable to withhold myself, I forced my thought out of my mouth, making Light turn to me.

"I already am." he whispered. "Why so tense?"

"It's nothing." I said tiredly. "I guess my age is just catching up to me, and I'm hearing things." I forced a laugh, but Light didn't seem impressed.

"That Virus again?" He always went straight to the point; earnest and honest was his only weakness. He needs to learn subtlety. "I keep telling you: if you keep ignoring this, you're going to-"

"I know!" I cut him off, louder than I wanted to. "But don't worry. I've got plenty of souls left. No reason why I should be faltering now. "

"But your body's not going to last."

"Don't you think I know that?" It's true: despite living for years, I never aged a day past my prime. I thought it would be awesome, being able to stay fit for the rest of my life, not aging into an old man and going crazy from dementia and Alzheimer. But because of that, I had to relocate every few years to avoid suspicion. I never had any close friends, just recognizable faces and names.

_Ugh, what am I doing reminiscing? Nothing! Get back to work!_ "Come on, Light. You can track John's Aura down, right? How's he doing?"

Light gave a look of annoyance being brushed off like that, but still went to tracking John. "Almost there...damn. He's moving, running. Randomly, by the looks of it." He looked at me, silently asking what to do next.

"Let's go after him. We can catch up to him then. If anyone gets in the way...well, we can just take a different route, but you've enough battle experience to take on multiple Pokemon, right?" I smirked, facing him with respect and expectation.

"I wouldn't be fit to serve an Aura Guardian if I couldn't. This is what I have trained for." He returned the smile. That was the kind of confidence I respected in him.

"Good. Lead the way."

...

"Damn it all, how big is this place?!" Light yelled out exasperatedly.

I couldn't help but laugh at his distraught nature. It's been a long time since I've seen him like this. "Come now. This is nothing compared to back home."

He looked back at me, but didn't stop running. "Yes, but the Cathedral of Crucifixion had a very..._linear_ format. This place is all _willy-nilly_."

I let out another bark of laughter at his language. "Nice use of slang! Never knew staying in this world would change you this bad!"

"Oh! Oh, I never..." He growled between his teeth, realizing his mistake. Being such a stoic, he's always a source of entertainment for me when he gets flustered like this. He crossed his paws in stubbornness, tapping the ground with his feet.

"Oh, loosen up a little." I comforted him. "Both of us are getting out of shape. It's best at an old age, to relax a little here and there. We'll live longer if we do."

"Look at yourself." Light said in a humorous tone. "Always so serious when around others, yet when alone, you do a complete face-change. Admit it; as dangerous as this is, you're actually enjoying this whole experience, aren't you?"

"Yeah, well," I chuckled out. "Being stuck in life-threatening situations ain't that impressive now. With that shopping mall incident and running away from home, this is nothing. I'm actually disappointed we didn't get to fight anybody."

"You mean _I_ didn't fight anybody," he said tersely. "and I would watch that attitude." I predicted a lecture coming on. "Being so loose and wild like that is just a sign that the Virus-"

I bit my tongue as I got in the mood to cut him off again. "If you're suggesting," I interjected loudly, loud enough for my voice to echo off the walls. "that I'm cutting slack while I'm on these skirmishes, then you're wrong." I stopped running, and Light followed suit. I was making myself a bit frightened by these sudden mood changes, but I didn't stop myself. "This is my life on the line I'm talking about here. My being here, this _game_, it all depends on how I do things. I'm not acting like I don't know what I'm doing, but don't judge me prematurely just by showing emotion. I've had years to suppress this thing, but if the Virus is influencing me too far, you would be the first to know."

I couldn't read Aura like the Lucario could, but even I could feel the emotions Light had when I said that. "And if the Virus overtakes you, then I would have to kill you. I still remember that."

"But before any of that could happen. I need to go back to Sinnoh. There, we can finish the rest of our business before passing away peacefully." I ended in a rather uplifting tone. I looked at Light and saw him with an annoyed look on his face, as if I said something offensive. "What? Living for a hundred years gives you that kind of mentality."

"I...understand." he replied quietly. "John's moving, slower now!" His ears perked up the bulbs on his head were vibrating to detect his Aura. Following his lead, I instantly tensed up, although there was no need. "He's slow, but getting closer. He must have heard us."

That's not a farfetched idea, noise being able to echo around these corridors easy. "He must have thought that we're enemies. Let's go find him before any of the _real_ enemy shows up. He must know where Maria is." With that issue gone, Light proceeded to run down the hall.

...

John's POV

_Is someone there? Oh please don't come this way! _

But whoever made that noise didn't sound very hostile, and that means that they wouldn't hurt me out of whim, right?

_Of course, they might just be idle until they spot, in which they do, they'll going to stuff me in that room again! I can't go back there! I need to find Maria! And Kyle!_

_Wow, I never thought I'd say that._

Before turning around to look for another hallway, a voice came from the hall to the left of me. "John, are you there?"

Without a moment's hesitation, I ran down my hall as fast as I could and took the nearest corridor joining it. I was not ready to get caught yet, but if this guy had a Pokemon then I'm screwed! I needed to find Maria. Only then would I get a chance of getting out of here.

_I need to find somewhere to hide. A room where I can get away from this guy!_

Unfortunately, this new hallway was completely barren of doors, which meant no rooms. Nothing but the concrete floor and metal walls.

_Shit! And I can't go back now! But the end of the hall's so far away! _(In hindsight, it wasn't really that far away, but that's what panicking does to you.) _To hell with it, I need to get out of sight!_

I sprinted as fast as my legs could take me, but I could still hear the man's shouting right behind me. "Hey, stop! I'm not a bad guy!"

I don't know why, but regardless of the risks, I slowed down and turned around to look at my chaser. He was at the end of the hall, and another figure was next to him; it was too far away to see either of them in detail, but they were too far away to do anything to me at this distance, and the figure was definitely a Pokemon.

"John! It's me, Alex!"

Hearing the name made me lose my breath. "Alex, is that you?" I yelled down the corridor, still not certain. "Light's with you?"

"Yeah, it's us!" The two figures ran down until they stopped in front of us. It was definitely them, Alex with his neck-long black hair and Light with his only memorable trait-his canine head.

Instantly, the weight on my chest was off, and I exhaled in gratitude. If they were here, they could help me find Maria, and out of this place. "Oh I'm so glad you're here! Listen, I don't know where, but that girl Tasha from befo-"

"We know." Alex interrupted. "I'm trying to find out more about this Eglington Project, but then Light found you with a bunch of guys in a car, including Maria. So we decided to investigate, we followed you down here, and here we are."

"...that was a nice summarization." I would have been more suspicious about their behaviours down here, but now was not the time. "Wait, wait what!? Maria? She's here too?" I almost screamed the question at him.

"Yes, Maria's here. I'm guessing she followed you when Tasha kidnapped and brought you here." Alex muttered, looking around as if this underground maze fascinated him. "I get the feeling that Sing's behind this. This is a chance to get some important dirt on him."

"Don't worry, we'll still find Maria." He assured with a smile after looking at my straight face. Finding Maria and getting out of here was my top priority. If he won't help me with that, then I'm better off searching without him!

"Alright then." I said, getting impatient. "You're lead. Where to?"

"Light, if you'll please." Alex gestured to the Lucario.

He closed his eyes, and after a few seconds, he spoke. "Let's see...there are, three people leaving my range of sight, so they're probably leaving...Maria's surrounded, by three more people, wait!" We waited patiently for him to finish. Alex was standing still while I was tapping my finger on the wall. "The people are splitting up. Two of them are staying with Maria, while one's off on their own, wait! The number of Aura's increased by two. One for the group with Maria, and one for the loner, Kyle."

Before I could ask, Alex answered my question. "Light can't track a specific person's Aura down. He can only identify the owner of the Aura if he's met them personally, like you, me, and Kyle."

The name gave rose to another question. "Kyle! Is _he_ here too?" _Don't tell me he's working for Sing!_

"Yeah, I called him here, in case I needed backup." Alex phrased that like it was an obvious thing, so you'll understand that I was slightly ticked off by this news. "I kinda feel bad for him now; he's been fighting all this time, and we didn't see anyone."

"Well, shouldn't we be going?" I said, starting to get annoyed by his calmness. "If Light's got a track on them, then we should just follow where Maria is, right?"

"Right." Alex nodded. _Finally, we're getting somewhere._ "Light, lead the way."

Light started running ahead, and we followed him back down the hall.

...

"Alex." I started, starting to worry that I would lose this chance.

"Yeah?"

I gulped before asking. It wasn't unlikely that he was going to sidetrack from the question, humor me, or hell, even ignore me altogether. But I had to ask him now; I didn't know if I was going to get another chance like this.

"If that was you and Light, what were you talking about?" I asked, trying to be bashful.

He didn't make a change in gesture. "We were just talking about the good old days, right Light?" The bipedal dog nodded in agreement.

"What _were_ the good old days?" I inquired further.

"What do you think? I battled hundreds of trainers' Pokemon, and I never lost." He answered smugly. "I hate to admit it, but the games here portray the trainer life well, if it's a bit misleading."

"Misleading? How?"

"Well, just...about everything." he chuckled. "It's true most trainers try to compete for their respective league and all, but a lot of complications impede that. First off, there's a reason why they're called 'wild' Pokemon. If Pokemon were everywhere, imagine how life would be like without trainers to catch and train them to assimilate to human interaction."

"Diglett and Dugtrio would cause mass earthquakes, a school of water-type Pokemon might send a giant tsunami to a beachside town, a horde of bug-types can destroy a forest to find food and shelter, yeah I kind of figured that out when I saw the anime." I laughed with him, but now with these ideas, the fact that dozens of these creatures were living in this town was making me shake on the inside. "But that's not what I mean, specifically." I said, trying to draw the conversation out of murky waters and instead, into a deeper one. "What was _your_ trainer life like?"

He had a pained expression replace his smirk. Light stared at me, and the look I got from him froze me enough to slow me down to a slow walk. He noticed the change in mood and slowed down as well. Light kept on giving me the impression that he was going to stuff his paw in my mouth to shut me up, but Alex raised a hand to ward him.

"My life was, kinda...depressing." he said flatly.

Annoyed, I decided to be a bit more aggressive. "Everyone's life's depressing at some point."

"Yeah, well, I haven't met anyone yet whose life's more depressing than mine, not even yours or Kyle's." That moment, I felt the atmosphere of the hall drop its weight on me, and I felt the temperature drop by at least 5 degrees. If it was any colder, I wouldn't be surprised if I started seeing my breath-and if you were in my shoes, that would be no exaggeration. "Living in this place is a real improvement to anyone's life back home that I guarantee."

The answered scared me enough to slow down even more from a walk to a limp. "So, instead of school, homework, chores, and video games, what did _you _do?" Every second of silence made me think I was about to breathe my last breath. Despite the cold, sweat running down my back made my shirt stick to me.

"I...didn't have a very good childhood." he muttered choppily. "It's kind of like Tasha. My parents weren't really my blood relatives. They didn't like me one bit, only feeding me and keeping me in the house as much as they could."

My face contorted as I heard this. "That's even worse! That's sick! You're not bullshiting?" I realized what I had just said, and raised a hand to my mouth.

"No, I assure you, everything I say's true. Albeit short and abridged." he replied with a small frown. "If you wanted the long version, I could have used it to fill a book."

As worried as I was, I kept the pressure on, trying to avoid Light's piercing glare. "I'm sorry to sound so..._intrusive_, but can you elaborate? You don't have to..." I quickly uttered as Alex drew a sigh.

"You're really asking what you want, huh?" He scratched his head and gave a small smile. "My parents, or rather, my guardians, the Cassius, were obviously cruel. They always kept me in the house, so I could only learn through books and watching others train."

"Wait." I couldn't help myself. "Just who _are_ these Cassius? What was your family like?"

He hesitated for a moment, raising a hand to his chin. The hair on my neck was on its ends, desperate for this tension to end with his revelation.

"Alex..." Light growled in the most intimidating way I ever heard a dog growl. The sound made me instinctively grab the nearest thing on hand-Alex's coat sleeve.

"Light, leave it!" Alex ordered him so fiercely that it made me jump from the ground. Alex felt this and gave a bemused sigh. "Sorry about that, Light can get overprotective, especially about divulging private information like this."

"No really!" I stuttered. "You really d-don't-"

"Let's get the gist out of the way-my family and I belonged to a bigger family, a clan, of Aura users."

Before I could process the message entirely, I blurted out, dumbfounded. "Huh? Aura?"

"Aura. If I remember, one of the Pokemon movies based its plot around a Lucario and an Aura Guardian." He said smugly. "Do I not match that detail perfectly?"

"Uh, yeah, I guess." I said sheepishly. Honestly, I never paid attention to the movies; only the anime and games. I turned to Light and he rolled his eyes.

"It touches the concept of Aura, but doesn't fully reveal it. Let me break it to you now. It's not magical as it makes it seems." He scoffed at the thought. "Most people believe that, well, most people back in my world, believe that all beings possess Aura. However, some people in the past believed this meant if you could somehow pump Aura into something, it would be alive; say for example, a dead body."

_That sounds logical, at least. But obviously it's a lot complicated than that._ "Don't tell me...some people actually tried that?!"

"Yes, but we're getting off-topic." He said with an unnecessary flourish, as if even hearing such immoral activity would stain his ears. I heard Light grunt in approval. "Back to my family. The Cassiuses, like I described them, kept me indoor, never letting me out for any reason. They were cruel people, although I understood their reasons."

"What kind of reason is good enough to keep you..._imprisoned_ like that?" I asked, using the strongest word I could think of at the time.

"The fact that I was born with a level of Aura that scared the whole lot of them." He smirked darkly as he said it. "Who wouldn't be scared? Even as a toddler, I displayed a skill with Aura so powerful they had no choice but to keep me in."

"Like what? How did you show this?" I said, appalled by how this completely ordinary man could be so dangerous.

"Well, when I was three, I broke all the windows in my room when I tripped myself and cried." he mused, and his smile widened in thought. "Oh, the look on their faces were priceless; pure fear."

"Wha-what...well that's bad!" I screamed my complaint. "Why are you happy about doing something that would make them notice you like that?"

He shook his head in disappointment. "They already knew. They always knew even before my birth, that there was at least something wrong with me."

"How?"

He tapped his head with a finger. "Aura, remember? Even as a fetus, they could detect something was wrong. And when their threat was realized, they did everything to keep me in, to keep me out of the world."

"That's stupid." I scoffed. "If they did that, these...Cassius people would just be putting themselves in danger."

"The risks were a lot greater if I was let out." It was Alex's turn to look at Light, and he looked away from his gaze in indifference. "Yes, I could have killed everyone, but I could have killed a lot more if I was let out. Besides, leaving me for dead would have shown others of the White Crucifixion the Cassius's parenting skills and responsibility."

"You mentioned that name before..." I murmured quietly. I tried to remember when he mentioned it, but only the name would pop out in my head. "What are they exactly?"

"They are a clan; a separate branch of Aura users." I turned slightly red when he saw my confused face and sighed. "Alright, let me elaborate. The White Crucifixion was a separate organization with a different set of beliefs than the mainstream Auror (that's a slang term for an Aura user, don't confuse it with another!). They believed that Aura should be kept within the family, meaning kept in the same bloodline, so an Auror would marry another Auror, but never an Auror with a human. Usually, an Auror would marry and start a new generation with a regular human. The number of Aurors is declining so this is an obvious answer. However, White Crucifixion thought differently, and so, they were excluded in the end; exiled, almost."

It took a while for the whole thing to make sense, but I got the overall idea. "So the White Crucifixion was kicked out because of...inbreeding?"

"Don't say it like that, will you?" He chuckled, though his face grimaced at the word. "The Crucifixion has its pluses, though. An Auror's general skill with Aura's believed and tested, but not scientifically proven, to be greater when the birth parents' are both pure Aurors. The Auror's capability with Aura's critical in almost every part of their life, since their skill reflects on their overall rank. So an Auror with poor skill would be trash, while someone like me..."

"Would be enough to be president...or something like that." I answered slightly awed by this reveal in information. "But why were they afraid of you? If they were you're parents, wouldn't they be thrilled to have someone like you? You were young, you would have been stupid like a baby in _some_ point in your life?"

"That's just the thing-I wasn't. Never in my life. This is going to sound creepy as hell," He looked at Light, who clenched his teeth and looked away, his eyes shut in anger. "Again, this is scary, but I can remember everything."

"Wha?"

"Everything!" He said this with such passion that I jumped at the change in tone and volume. "Everything I see, smell, touch, hear, all of it. I can even recite our entire dialogue right now if I wanted to. I don't know why, but I remember all these things. It's not natural, and this was what scared the White Crucifix-no, the whole Aura community scared of me. They wanted to kill me at first, but the White Crucifixion was keen on having me studied. But the rest of the Aurors thought-rightfully-that I should be put down."

"So..." I stammered, scared at what to do at this point. The air was tense and something in my lungs was stopping me from breathing fully. "Both of them, they were wanting to do bad things to you?" I said, unable to search my brain properly at the moment; it was as if my brain was on the verge of shutting down.

"Yes. I remember them all. Everything since I turned conscious as a simple toddler, I remember everything. From my baby crib, to my housing, the church...all of it."

_When he says it like that, what would I choose? Live a life as a test subject, or simply die?_

"Good God...I think I would rather die." I whispered, terrified as a mental image popped in my mind; my body covered head-to-toe in medical syringes, strapped to a table.

"Yes, I-"

"Uh Alex?"

The third voice made me jump for the countless time. "What is it, Light? I was just getting good." Alex responded monotonously, turning around with bored eyes.

Light moaned in annoyance, his body turning limp. "I'm sorry to interrupt story-time, but I hear something...odd."

"Odd? Like how?"

"That room we passed." He pointed a paw at a door just like any other, just behind us. We've been walking and talking so much that I didn't even realized how far we went or what we passed by.

_I guess I've been so absorbed by Alex's craziness to notice._ "What's odd about it?" I asked, my eyes closing in fatigue.

"I hear machinery; something big is behind the door. Making a lot of heat as well." He said that as if such disturbances were a crime.

"It's probably a generator or something. This place has to run on _something_, and the town above's being renovated, so electricity's not available." I brushed the words off, but Alex seemed to have taken a liking to it.

"A generator?" he mused. "I have a boiler at my house, I figure that's the same for everywhere else. I've never seen a generator before. Do you know anything about it, John?"

"Uh, I've never seen one." I replied, the words rolling out of my mouth easy. "I heard them using gasoline to produce electricity sometimes, but I know next to nothing."

"If Light thinks it's suspicious, it wouldn't hurt to check it out. He's been watching my back for years."

Light nodded adamantly, and we walked back in front of the door. It looked just like any other door we walked by-blank, clean, and shiny. The doorknob, however, was gold and stained with some dirt and faint black smudges.

"It's locked." I said instantly. True enough, when Alex turned the knob, we heard a clatter of metal, the round iron refusing to turn.

"No prob." Light reached a hand into his jacket and I heard a zipper unzipping. He pulled out a small hoop of paper clip. On closer inspection, they looked very old; most of them were bent out of shape and the shiny iron was now covered in rust.

_No way, he's not thinking..._

"He is." Light broke me from my thoughts. I looked at him, but he simply stared at Alex unbending one of the clips, ignoring my stare. After a few silent seconds, I followed suit and observed the crime at work. He bent the clip straight and into a strange shape, similar to its original form, but different. He grabbed the wire end and inserted the hooped end into the keyhole. After a minute or two of twitching and turning (but for him, intense lock-picking action), we heard a slow, but smooth **CLIK!** of a lock tumbling into place.

"You got it?" I whispered, unable to believe that I witnessed something I thought was possible only in fiction.

"Think so." He pulled out the piece of metal and the knob turned smoothly as if it was brand new. "Alright then." He pocketed the paper clip and walked into the dark room. Although it was dimly lit with the backlight from the main hall, it was still too dark to see much. "Where is the light switch...ahah!"

White light flushed into the room, blinding all of us as we let out groans of pain from the sudden illumination. I wiped my eyes, and blinked a few times for my eyes to adjust, and I looked in the room. In front of us, a massive, steel box was producing a loud humming noise, like a microwave would. On it, all sorts of lights were spread on it, along with dials and switches here and there scattered about. Alex went up to it, and pulled a handle beside it. A few struggles later, he pulled the machine open and revealed a large spherical room inside it, almost like the machine and door served as a mold for something.

"What the hell's this?" Alex muttered, and looked inside it. "There's wires everywhere inside this thing. Do they lead to the machine?"

"You think a battery goes in there?" I asked incredulously. "That's kind of stupid, using a battery to power a generator."

"No, not a battery. No battery's big enough for this room; I can practically sit inside it. Wait, wait a sec." He went behind the machine while I was content to stay in the doorway. Personally, I was terrified that the machine might explode any minute, but Alex kept going. "Hey there's another chamber like the early one, but this one has a window to see through, and a slot." To prove it, I heard the sound of metal scrapping each other, scarring my ears.

"There's wires in this thing too...maybe it's supposed to hold something that makes electricity?"

_Electricity? Why put a generator into a generator?_

_Bolt._

"It's for Bolt." I spoke up, shocked at the conclusion I came to. "Maybe he's been trapped in the machine to produce electricity in place of fuel?"

"I don't like their ethics, but they're smart." I heard the shutting of the door and Alex walked back to me. He didn't sound too surprised. "Common electric Pokemon are usually used as a last resort to power heavy machinery and wiring. They're even used to light gas fires. A Pikachu like Tasha's could easily fit in both rooms."

"I don't think Tasha's one to leave her Pikachu to be used as a battery to power someplace this big." I said bitterly.

"No, but the Pikachu and Raichu species are known for their periodic discharges. This would be a perfect place for just that." Alex closed the door as we walked out, and we Alex looked at me weirdly. "John, don't tell anybody about this place. If word gets to Sing, no matter how unlikely, that we've seen this, he's probably going to think of us as a threat."

"Since when did you make enemies with him so fast?" Light popped up behind us, commencing our previous walk to meet with Maria.

"Anyone helping me, or neutral, I think as friend. Anyone that impedes my progress, such as Sing's doing by sticking his nose in Eglington, I think as threat." Alex stated simply.

This question startled me a little, and my feet felt like lead. "Uh, was I ever a threat?" I asked timidly, my fingers shaking from the atmosphere.

Alex sighed, and formed a small smile. "Want me to be honest? You were a minor threat. When I first met you at your house, I thought it was going to be hard, dealing with a stubborn kid. First glance, you looked like a regular boy, albeit thuggish-looking." We both laughed at the comment. It was true-my choice of clothing wasn't exactly mainstream, especially when my mom bought me a dark fur coat for Christmas-gave me the impression of a shady businessman. "But you were easy to convince, and you saved two Pokemon from a burning store."

"Yeah, I guess." was all I could let out from his comment of me.

Or at least, all I could let out before Light gave a hushed "Stop!"

Alex and I stared at him, paw raised and eyes alert. "Maria and the two humans are here, in that hallway." He pointed at the left turn at the end of the hall we were in. "They are still far away from the turn, but they'll be here any minute."

"So they're right there?" Despite wanting to find Maria, I felt scared at how we should interact with her captors. "There's two guys with her. How should we approach them? If they're strangers, they could be holding Maria hostage." I whispered frantically. After focusing my senses with adrenaline, I could hear faint footsteps clopping by the other side.

He gave a smirk, but I could tell he was unsure of his plan. "Well, when you put it that way...there's really no other way than to face them head-first, no?"

Light and I was about to roar out a "NO!" but Alex raised his hands in silence. "These aren't going to leave Maria alone for anything until they find us." he whispered. "Whoever these guys are, we need to take things slow. I don't want to be seen as the bad guy, do you?"

I shook my trembling head, and he nodded his. "Alright then. Brace yourself." We could hear the footsteps getting closer, and I knew we couldn't run away now. "Stop right there!"

I let out a gasp at Alex's order. _What are you doing? Didn't you just say we didn't want to look like bad guys?_

"We know you're there. Walk out the hall slowly, and don't try to run, we'll know." Alex went on with his threats.

A few seconds passed, and a rough voice came from behind the wall. "Who do you think you are, sneaking in here so late?!"

"It's Sing." Alex quickly whispered to me. Light step in front of us and readied for any movement. "None of your business. You just have something I want, and we're here to take her back."

"Well then, that makes it very much my business, Mr. Arlon." A man finally stood into view, wearing the same black suit and pants with a crop of grey hair on his head. His eyes widened when they saw me, so I could see their brown colour. "This is quite a meeting. Tasha, a friend of yours."

From the wall, a familiar Pikachu leapt out and growled at us, electricity crackling at the ready. When he saw us, the sparks disappeared but he kept his feral stance.

_Wait, Sing and Bolt's here. That means..._

Finally a girl stepped forward, her dark hair covering her eyes. But when her face cleared up, we both had the same expression on our faces.

"YOU!"

...

**Alright, this chapter's finally done! **

**But now that I look back, I sort of regret using the term 'Auror'. Yes, I know, it's a word from Harry Potter, yeah yeah yeah, but I didn't know what other make-believe word I could use and typing Aura user/guardian' is too much a hassle and awkward to say out loud. The word 'Auror' at least matches the theme of Aura, and sounds appropriate (to me, at least).**

**Now you know a bit more about Alex's past, but still quite a bit left. I don't think I'll divulge all of it in this fic, however, and leave it towards a sequel (if I ever get to writing it!)**


	35. Dad

John's POV

"Tasha-"

"John-"

"What are you-!"

"What are _you_-"

At this point I couldn't stop stuttering at what I saw-Sing with Tasha, with Maria with her? _Wait, Maria!_

"What happened to _her?_" Before I knew it, I was running up to Tasha and placed myself next to her to get a good look at the ghost-type. A large gash was above her left eye, blood pulsing out as it streamed down her face, drying in crusts. The colour of red contrasting with her purple skin made her even more ghostly than before. She peeked her right eye open, and she opened her left when she affirmed who she was looking at.

"John, you're here-" She started in a raspy voice, but Tasha cut her off.

"She's in a really bad shape, trying to force her way in here-"

"Force her way?!" I said aghast. "Why didn't you sneak around? That's what ghost-types do, isn't it?"

Maria gave a sigh of both relaxation and annoyance. "What do you think I meant to do?" she groaned out.

_I probably shouldn't make her talk yet. I got the feeling that she's a lot more busted than she looks._

"Ahem."

I whipped behind me and saw Sing looming over all of us, his eyes sending shivers down my skin. Tasha's mouth opened in shock and I heard an audible whimper from her. "Get away from my daughter, boy." His voice was different-_way_ more different than the last time I remembered it. Even though it had the same pitch, it was as if his voice had a solid form, not just vibrations, and it went through my whole body. I didn't realized how close I was to Tasha before I he notified me.

My legs were trembling in sudden fear, but I managed to step back a couple times before stumbling on my feet, bringing my consciousness back. I blinked a few times at what just happened- _I never knew adults could be so terrifying!_

"Leave him alone, Mr. Sing." Alex's voice boomed behind me. Although it was a perfect example of talking-volume, the heaviness of his tone was enough for me to stand up straight. I continued to walk behind him, and Alex resumed talking. "You're the one who kidnapped him, you're responsible for this."

"Be quiet, Arlon, and get out. Because of all the damages you've done, I've got extra work to do." He grabbed Tasha by the arm, hard, and pulled her away down the hallway they came out of. "Well, boy? You're no longer needed! If you hurry up, you can get home!" His yells rebounded off the wall, making his already thundering voice even more threatening.

At first, my legs were frozen by his words. I didn't know what to do at that point-do I just go back out with Alex like he said? I turned to Alex, but mid-turn, he pushed me aside and walked past me.

"H-hey...?" I raised my voice at his abruptness, but then I saw his eyes. They were past angry; infuriated. I could see the red in his eyes, and unless I was mistaken, they flashed a bright cyan for an instant. My whole body went limp as he continued to silently march past the hall. Helpless, I looked at Light, who was left behind, didn't say anything, but simply pointed his paw at the hall.

_That's right! I still need to get back Maria!_

Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I ran (more like jogged, now that I think about it) down the hall, Light following right behind.

"-but Mr. Sing, we need Maria! That's all I came here for, for her and John!" Light was already arguing with Sing's back facing him. Tasha continued to look forward, held forward by her father's hand on her arm. I could see Maria being held by her free arm.

"Don't worry about her." Sing shrugged. "After tonight, I'll make sure Tasha sends Maria back to John."

"Sir, please!" Alex continued to beg. "We've been through so much trouble just getting this far!"

"You _weren't supposed_ to make it this far." Sing's volume was rising; I made sure I was just behind Alex in case he exploded. "None of you were supposed to be here in the first place. We finish questioning John, he gets a drive home by Mr. Vadres, and he's smart enough to figure out the rest."

Although I was rather flattered by that last statement, I kept following him, wary of any changes in tone or body language of both Sing and Alex.

"Well, sir, but what was I supposed to think of when I saw a van riding up in front of the school? In the middle of a town under renovation, even? _Anyone _would be suspicious!"

"_No one _would be suspicious if they were asleep like they were supposed to be!" Sing finally turned around, and his face wrinkled in anger actually made me gasp and stumble over myself simultaneously. I had to grab onto Alex again to keep my balance. I felt my cheeks start to burn; how often have I been doing this?!

But he took no notice. "That _anyone_ would be suspicious from the beginning! Please trust me! I've been out here so late because I wanted to take a look at Eglington and what's going on!"

"If you read the site and the brochures, you would know everything!" Sing finally let go of Tasha, who was staring at her arm as it was crushed under his grip. She began to slowly rub it with her other hand, but Sing was attracting most of my attention. "But I see that holding you back's no surprise! I'm sure you've heard everything from my daughter!"

I followed his glare and saw it directed towards Light beside Alex. His eyes were narrow as his red iris turned menacing.

"Yes, I'm involved in this game just like your daughter! Please, now that you see me like this, why-"

"Why won't I let you help me? Because no stranger's going to use me or my daughter to play A GAME!"

That stopped all of us in our tracks. His scream caught all of us by such surprise that I squirmed even tighter in fear of him blowing his frustration out on us.

"This place was made so that Tasha would be safe from all the players! Everyone's Pokemon would stay down here, while the players would lead out their normal lives." He took a deep breath and his face smoothed out a bit. "The last thing we need is for non-players to know about any of this."

We all took his change in emotion as beneficial, but Alex seemed to take it a lot more seriously. His eyes were serious and his voice became more engaging, but nevertheless a hint of friendliness. "Then why've you published a picture of her and her Pokemon? That pic's all over the news!"

"There are more and more videos of Pokemon appearing online; one does not make a difference. You know what you're doing?" Sing regained his piercing glare. The brown in them shone in the overhead light. "You're being mislead by Gavin Nio. I know you work for him."

_Well...uhm, by associated, you mean working for him, no, not at all!_

_He's been meeting with Mr. Nio, but other than that he's working for the government..._

I froze when I realized what I had said back in the interrogation. It didn't help that Alex was looking at me for the first time, but I still held onto his shirt sleeve but I had to look down to avoid whatever pity or rage he had for me. My legs were shaking as I tried to remain still, but the guilt of ratting Alex out like that made me want to melt on the spot.

_So much for that note about keeping hushed..._

"So what if I am?" Alex continued, regaining aggression. "Nio wants to help out us players too."

"No, he wants to expose us!" The vigor returned to Sing, although it wasn't enough to get me to look back up. "We need to stay hidden until-"

"No one's staying hidden anymore sir! And you're not helping with Tasha's-"

"YOU'RE TAKING HER AWAY FROM ME!"

**PAK-CRK!**

That got my attention. My head whipped up without a though, and a sting of fear pierced me. Sing's fist was on the wall, red liquid trickling down his fingers. His teeth were bared, and his eyes looked like he was trying to tear the wall down with his gaze. You had to see it to believe it-for a moment he didn't look like a business man like his first impression; he was an animal, ready to claw at anything his thick fingers could grab.

"That photo I let out was so I could keep Nio from searching for her! If there was something that would divert his attention, then I would have had more time to find her!" A growl escaped his lips. He pulled back his fist and we got a good look at it. The skin around the knuckles was red as if glossed in lipstick, and liquid red dripped down the back of his hand. His face returning to its stern self, he reached into his pants pocket with his good hand and pulled out a pack of tissues. "I knew prior tonight that someone was gathering a group of players. If Tasha joined this group, and believe me when I say she's in the rebellious state of mind to do so, then she would be out of my grasp permanently!"

"I needed her back! You don't know what that's like, do you! Losing your only girl!"

Time froze right then. I didn't know what to do. Those last words made my entire body shake. My eyes and chest were burning up from all these thoughts and emotions, and my legs were about to give out on me. My mind, however, was somehow organized even with my catatonic state.

_He needed to keep Nio underground until he could get Tasha back. That's why he posted that picture, so that Nio couldn't attract attention by having Pokemon out in public anymore..._

"Mr. Sing, please." Alex started, looking nervous, as Sing wiped his hand of blood.

"Be quiet. I need to think this over." His shaking voice made his rather quiet voice even more threatening. "In the meantime, I recommend you leave. Now."

Alex was struggling for something; either resisting to talk or trying to get his vocal chords to work. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Sing saw this as a sign the conversation's end, and turned around to walk away.

"Da..._dad_?"

Everyone of us looked at the direction at where the voice came from-Tasha.

"Please. Can I just...please, give back Maria?"

All of our mouths were open at that point, even Sing's, albeit smaller than the rest of us. He kept his tissue on his bleeding hand, but remained a sharp eye on the girl next to him. She looked nothing like the girl I met for the first time. She was a thug; a run-of-the-mill delinquent who does what she wants, when she wants. Now it's the complete opposite: her eyes were soft, ferocity gone, and her body posture lax. She demanded that Maria be given to her when we first met. But now the complete opposite was happening.

A loud sigh escaped from Sing's lips, and Tasha wiped her eyes with her sleeve on more time. "I guess so. But you must promise me," he turned to us, pointing a free finger at Alex. "that you won't tell anyone about this meeting, and I'll tell no one about this, even Nio, understand?" Before he could answer, the finger was pointed at me. "and you hurry on home. Now that everyone's left though, I don't know how you're going to make it back home, unless Mr. Arlon's planning on driving."

Alex shrugged his shoulders. "I don't drive; I prefer walking and helping the environment."

"Touching." Sing bitterly remarked.

"My house is close by." Alex pulled up his sleeve to look at his PokeNav. "Damn, it's almost 5 o'clock. We need to get out of here. If we run, we can make it back to your house."

I didn't know what to say. Suddenly the attention was shifted to me. "I...I don't know. That could work, but Maria's in terrible shape, and I don't have her Pokeball"

"Alright then, let's go to my house." Light nodded in agreement, and that was the end of that.

I walked up to Tasha, making sure no noise escaped from my shoes as I did. She took a step forward and handed me Maria. Now I could get a closer look at her. Reddish blood congealed in her hair, gluing it together into clumps. A trickle of the aforementioned liquid trickled down from above her swollen left eye, making it look like she was crying out blood. On top of that numerous scratches she had, her face was looking unusually pale.

The ghost-type didn't say anything, and kept panting for air. It was painful to watch her hurt like this. I stared up to Tasha, and she had the same look.

"John!"

I didn't bother turning around. All my focus was on Maria, but I knew Kyle had just arrived on the scene.

"Alex, what's going on? Gray heard yelling here-"

Despite desperately wanting to say something, I couldn't get air out of my throat. I took Maria from her arms and turned around without a sound.

...

"So you think Sing's trustworthy?"

I kept on looking at Maria in my arms. Even with the lack of sunlight, the streetlights illuminated the road enough to get a clear look on her face.

"Maybe, but I still doubt him mostly." I managed out. It was so dark and late that I couldn't sort my words out. I needed sleep, fast. Especially Maria. "Can we do anything for her? What was Kyle doing here, anyways?"

He laughed lightly at my questions. "Slow down, I'll answer one at a time. Light and I will try to heal her. When she was hurt by Bolt, you just tried wrapping her in sterile bandages. That's a good start for treating minor electric burns, but an attack from a Pikachu's different. Luckily, the procedure's the same." He said wisely.

"Also, I called Kyle when I spotted the van carrying you parked in front of the school. I figured that they were all trainers, and that I could use some back-up. It was pure coincidence that Kyle was doing some late-night studying, and he had a car. He agreed to come when I mentioned your name."

_Really? Just like that, he's helping me out of his schedule? He's really changed for the better!_

"Damn." Maria groaned out. It looked like she managed to heal naturally through all this time. She kept her eyes closed, but she spoke loud enough for both of us to hear. "So d'you know how you can help me?"

"Don't worry. While I've got some regular medicine work, plants are usually more effective. I've got some plants growing back home to make medicine out of."

"These plants, they're from your world?" I asked him.

"Yeah. Sinnoh, specifically. My home region. Aside from training, I always wanted to study herbalism, since buying medicine from stores kept draining my pockets."

Eventually, after a few more minutes of silence, we arrived in front of a house. It looked like any other house, but I guess that's to be expected when you're supposed to stay incognito. "Here we are." Alex sighed. I heard bits of metal jingling and the door pushed inward with a **WHOOSH **of air being sucked in. "Put Maria on the kitchen table. I'll get my stuff."

Suddenly, light filled the room, temporarily blinding me. After my eyes adjusted to the brightness, I reopened them and took a long look around as I walked inside. The scenery looked no different than my house, except a bit smaller and messier. Dust outlining cobwebs on the ceiling, hair and fur in the corners, ugly grey walls, and the lighting added to the depressing ambience. Maria actually groaned as she took it all in.

"Do these guys, ever clean their house?" she asked no one with a sigh.

"Shh!" I hushed her. My parents talked constantly about manners inside another's house, and despite my fatigue, my bashfulness got the best of me. Instinctively, I stared at the stairway Alex climbed up on, expecting a retort, but nothing came out, and so I carried on looking around the room.

The living room had a large but worn-out futon, making me wonder exactly why a man living by himself needed such furniture (probably for a homely atmosphere). A large black table had a bunch of papers strewn about, and I picked up some words, like 'numerous videos', 'sightings', and such. A couple empty cups and photos kept the tabloid in place.

Before I could get a closer look at the pictures, I entered the kitchen (identifiable only by the presence of a sink and a microwave beside it). The table and chairs had a red-blue colour theme, and I put Maria on it before taking a better inspection around. Sadly, other then the aforementioned chrome sink and microwave, there was nothing else to look at.

"So, when's Alex coming back?" Maria pondered as she waited patiently. Not too soon, thumping footsteps echoed upstairs and Alex jogged down with a first-aid kit.

"Alright, we're set. John, hold onto this for a min." He laid the box next to Maria and opened it, revealing all the essentials-bandages, disinfectants, cotton swabs, a box of band-aids, and too many to list. He handed me a tub of petroleum jelly. "Here. Start rubbing this on any cuts you see. Her face, back of her head, anywhere. Then get the band-aid aid put them over the cuts."

"Uh, what about above her eye?" I asked, pointing to the large gash-like wound.

"Cut a piece of tape and get a cloth patch. They're all in the kit, including scissors."

I gave a quick nod. I dipped my finger in the tub, and rubbed it over any traces of red I could see on Maria. The dry blood came off the wounds easily, and Maria gave a soft moan at the slick paste, especially when I came over her gash. It was rather disgusting, but it never crossed my mind as such. I was too focused on ridding the blood.

"Oh, that feels good..."

I chuckled at the comment. "I'm sure. I'm surprised you're not asleep after all those beatings."

She opened her right eye so I could properly massage her left eye, which looked most injured. "Why aren't _you _sleeping then? I'm ghost-type, nocturnal. I'm used to being up late at night."

"Really?" I asked, sarcasm oozing from my voice. "Then explain why you've been sleeping at night like the rest of us."

"Easy, because I want to wake up like the rest of you." She looked satisfied with the explanation.

"You know," Alex started, cutting up a roll of bandage. "that's not a good idea, especially for the nocturnal ghost-type. If you've always lived like this, then it's going to be bad for your overall health." He passed the scissors over to me, and I used it to cut a roll of tape.

"What!" Maria cried, only held back by Alex putting on the first band-aid over her eye. "I've felt no such!"

Alex gave a smug smile. "Maybe not, if you've been like this your whole life." I got a patch of cloth and pasted it over her eye. Using the piece of tape I cut earlier, I taped it to her eye, making sure it stays on.

"I was!"

"Then there's definitely something wrong with your growth. Usually, ghost-types and hell, any Pokemon that's nocturnal usually get stronger at night-time." The sudden question caught Maria off-guard as she wrinkled her band-aid.

"Really? Is that why I've made it so far under the school?" Maria asked, looking slightly depressed by the news.

"Well, you never would have made it so far if you haven't been training. You've _been_ training, right?"

"Yeah, almost every day outside of John's school." Maria answered with a bit of confidence.

"I'm just saying that ghost-types tend to benefit from training at night. I don't know the specifics, though. Probably because the night seems like the ghost-type's forte?" Alex jested with a smirk. "I know that it may sounds obvious, but ghost Pokemon are more active at night, probably because there's more situated for the dark."

His statement was more of an actual statement, but Maria contemplated silently at these words. "Wait...can I ask you something?" She beamed at Alex like an ascetic student.

Alex shrugged his shoulders. "I'll answer the best I can."

"Does training at night make a difference at whether or not I'll evolve?"

_She's still obsessed over that?!_

"John, remember Mitsune?" At this point, the memory seemed so faint it took a minute to remember the fire-type.

"Oh yeah! The Vulp-I-I mean, Ninetales. Kari's Pokemon." I stuttered out, surprised by her sudden interest and curiosity.

"Yeah her!" Maria turned back to Alex, her numerous band-aids wrinkling in tandem. "She didn't need a stone to evolve! All because of what?" She faced me again, with a tone that asked me if I knew the answer.

"Uh...give me a moment to think this over!" I gasped out loud. I instinctively raised a hand to my mouth as I began thinking.

_Let's see, Mitsune and Maria were stuck in a fire...she said that maybe the instinct towards their trainer helps them? ...Maybe just the instinct to fight and survive?_

"Oh for God's sake!" Maria yelped at me, making me jump from my chain of thought. "Don't you get it? Mitsune's a fire-type! She was stuck in a burning building! That's totally her environment! That, combined with her determination to fight that damn Magmortar! That's what made her evolve!"

We all just stood there in silence, replaying her words over in our heads. I was the first to blurt out my thoughts.

"That sounds like something straight out of a shounen manga."

Alex nodded slowly. "That was my second guess. Unfortunately, this is life, not some comic." He pointed a finger at Maria, a grim look on his face. "And this is life-if you were to fight that Kadabra head-on, you would have died. The only reason you don't have anything worse than lacerations and contusion's because pure ghost-types like you don't have any bones to break or a heart to stop. While your theory may be plausible, I've never heard of a Pokemon that needs an elemental stone to evolve do so without one."

Maria looked horrified at the first part of his speech-her mouth open, eyes petrified. I narrowed my eyes at his words. "Uh, Alex. That's a bit...harsh. Aren't doctors supposed to be nice to patients?" I spoke out timidly. "And, Mitsune really did evolve without a stone. You know that."

He looked up from Maria to me, and the tenseness from his face relaxed into a smooth surface again. He gave an awkward snarl. "Uh...sorry about that. Light tells me I get serious whenever Pokemon are mixed into the situation I can go...overboard like that." He petted Maria to calm her down, but her biting her lips told me she was still grieving about his warning.

Alex must have spotted this too, since he turned to me. "Can you get the yellow jar labeled 'V.E.'? I need to get some ice." He walked past me and opened a small black mini-fridge, which looked stuffed with all sorts of microwavable food.

After silently exhaling to keep my focus up, and started moving the various boxes and containers out of the way. Quickly, I found the jar, filled with a thick, yellow paste. A small sticker on the lid was used as the nametag- a thick **V.E.**, with smaller scribbles below, saying-**for irritated skin/bruises**.

"This it?" I asked Alex, his head inside the fridge. He pulled out a Ziploc bag filled with ice cubes and shut the door.

"Yeah. Open it and put it on the table." He jogged over and put the ice next to Maria.

I twisted the cap open, releasing a smell with the pungency of smoke and various spices. I plugged my nose as I quickly passed the jar to Alex. "God! What the hell's that?"

"Vileplume extract. More specifically, sap along with a bunch of minor ingredients." He reached into the first-aid kit and pulled out a pair of thin blue rubber gloves. "They smell horrid, but they help with bruises if you use them right." He put them on and dipped out a glob of the yellow glue.

"Are you really going to paste that on my face?!" Maria spouted, looking reasonably shocked by this.

"Don't worry." He was already painting Maria's face with the sap, making it glow in the incandescent light of the room. "You won't even feel it when I put the bandages on you." He continued to massage her with the glove, extorting Maria's "Uggh..." of disgust.

I smiled at the reaction. "Why'd you tell me to put the band-aids on before the extract?" I said, looking over all the band-aids, focusing especially on the patch over her eye.

Alex shook his head in laughter. "If any of the sap gets in cuts, then expect pain comparable to a pinch strong enough to break skin."

At that moment, Maria and I shivered in unison. "That must be horrible." I gasped out.

"Of course, not to mention the infection, muscle pains, possible amputation..."

"We get it!" Maria chirped out, her eyes wavering back and forth in agitation. My stomach was squeamish at the thought of giving a limbless animal an amputation (is it even possible?)

"Don't worry about it now, though." Alex grabbed the long roll of bandage he cut out and began wrapping Maria like a mummy.

"Oh no, not this again!" She exclaimed, annoyed by what was coming, but I could hear a sense of humor in her voice.

"There." Alex tied the bandage's ends together behind Maria's head. He closed the jar and put it back in the kit before handing me the bag of ice. "While the extract helps, it doesn't hurt to get something basic as ice on the wounds."

I jiggled the ice around before picking up Maria from the table. She was light enough to be picked up by one hand, and I applied the freezing bag onto one of the bandaged areas. But with Maria patched up, a new thought crept to my mind. "Um, sorry to be inconsiderate, but...where do we sleep?"

"Don't worry about that." Alex waved his hand and pointed up the stairs. "I'll sleep on the couch. You can have my bed for the night."

"Uh, technically, it's a futon-"

"You know I mean." He flicked his hand in good manner. "Now hurry on up. I'll wake you up early in the morning."

I looked at the clock and it read-5:30

"Uh, isn't it a bit late to sleep?" I nervously laughed out. Helping Alex out with healing Maria eliminated some of my drowsiness, but I was sure I could stay up if Alex would let me.

"No. Now go. I need to sleep too." He jabbed his thumb at the staircase, and while he meant well, his tone told me the conversation was over. He massaged his eyes, so I marched upstairs not to cause trouble.

Upstairs, there were only two rooms, and only one of them had a bed. I entered the room and looked around, curious at Alex's taste. The white bed was adequate for only one person. It was the beige plastic desk, however, that caught my attention-its surface was entirely covered with framed photographs, big and small.

"Are these...all of them are Alex?" Maria muttered in my arms.

"They gotta be." Alex was in every picture, although they were all different. Some were taken in springtime and other 3 seasons, some had Alex surrounded by Pokemon, and some had him surrounded by other people. Most of them had Alex with a smile, both big and small.

Two things caught my attention though: he never had a solo picture, and this one scared me-he looked the same in all of them. Similar hairstyle, same face, everything but his clothing, which depended on the scenery.

"Maybe he took all these when he was on a journey or something, as souvenirs." I reasoned with Maria. "There's tons of pics and different people. He must have been everywhere around the world, meeting with people."

"Yeah, but why aren't there any other pictures? Maybe some baby photos, a picture with his first day at school?" Maria was insistent, but her question was easily explainable.

"He told me back at the school he didn't have much of a childhood. He was kept indoors by his guardians, and he was rather ostracized by his whole family and clan." I placed Maria's ice bag onto the desk, making sure it woul

"Yeah, you told me about this 'White Crucifixion' crap. What's wrong with them?" She grunted angrily at me.

"There was something special about him. He had a ridiculous amount of Aura, and they wanted to find out how and why he had so much." I looked out the room's window, and I could see the purple sky, ready to turn red. "Let's get to sleep we might be able to sleep for at least a couple hours before we go back home."

I limped myself onto the bed, letting its soft fabric envelop me. We sighed at the same time, having some well-deserved rest. Maria nudged herself off my chest and laid herself beside me.

"So, how are we going to explain this to everyone?" Maria cuddled to my side, sounding tired from all her battles. I half-consciously wrapped my arms around her.

"I don't know. I just hope we can meet Tasha again, and that we didn't cause _too_ much trouble."

...

**Alright, that's the end of that arc! (if you could call this segment of the story an arc)**

**Oh God, 99 reviews! I was hoping that by the time I posted this chapter, I was hoping this fic would break the 100 point. Grrh! **

**Anyways, by the time I post this, I will give the chapters official names. It will be a lot easier to keep track of the stories this way, and I'll be sure to give some...**_**interesting**_** names for them.**

**So thank you for reading this so far! I was hoping that at this point, the Pokemon would be exposed to the world, but damn, it's hard to make that happen! I don't know whether to keep Pokemon a secret or have everyone know them! **

**Leave your opinion in your reviews! Thank you for spending your time reading this! I hope to have one last chapter before hitting September!**


	36. Girl Talk

Maria's POV

After last night, I can't recall much in detail about anything. I woke up too early to even notice the trip back to John's house, and right afterwards, John ran upstairs.

So much has happened in such a short time. I was dizzy from just trying to brink, or even breathe. Every inch of my body was aching, stinging, throbbing, or any combination of the above. The only mercy was the lack of sunlight in the early morning-my eyes felt like it would explode if it saw any bright light.

_Now I know what Alex meant about nocturnal ghost-types. My eyes are going to bleed at this rate!_

I let out a sigh through my bandages, unknowingly letting some loose strands of cloth in my mouth. I tried to spit them out, but I only managed dull coughs at my state. Closing my eyes, my hearing concentrated to the voices past the room's closed door. A storm of yelling and grunts shrugged its way into the door's cracks, making my insides churn with guilt. From the sounds of it, it appeared like Alex was managing to place the cause of all this on Tasha.

_Talking about how John was kidnapped and such...but without Sing or Tasha, it's impossible to convince John's parents about what happened. And didn't Alex promise he wouldn't tell anyone about what happened last night?_

I was grinding my teeth, hating-no, absolutely loathing myself. _Why did I go to John when I just had to wait the night? If it weren't for me, everything would have worked out between John and Sing, and we wouldn't have gone through all this trouble!_

_Don't you remember? You wanted to protect John._

_Well...that's true, but now I feel because of it! Everything I did was fruitless! A complete inverse! Instead of saving John safe and sound, I got banged up like this again!_

_Heh heh, banged up..._

_The hell am I thinking! This ain't time for humor! Oh, what am I going to do? Everyone's going to hate me now!_

The sound of the door creaking broke me out of my self-deprecation, snapping my eyes open in surprise. I craned my head over the blanket covering me. John was at the doorway, carrying a plate of colourful fruits.

Immediately I wanted to object, tell him that I wasn't in the mood, but only groans came out.

"Sorry if I woke you up. I just needed a good excuse to get out of there. I hate it when adults yell at each other." John forced a laugh and even a soft smile, but every bit of it made me clench my teeth more and more.

"Thanks a bunch for coming to fetch me. Believe me, I was scared of what was going on." He laid the fruit plate on the desk and sat down next to me. Despite this, he didn't look my way for some reason. "I really am grateful for you trying to take me back home."

_He's not looking this way because he hates me. Hates me for causing all that unnecessary trouble. I shouldn't even be here! I should be dead with all those fights I had and now I'm being rested by John like a hero! I don't-_

"I don't...deserve all this."

He had a toothpick in his mouth from a previously consumed strawberry. His eyes were lazy-his lack of sleep was affecting his still. "Wha?"

"It's...it's the same thing as last time." I was too distracted in my thoughts to care about choking on strings of cloth. "I start trouble solely because I'm at the scene of the crime, and in the end, you and I get hurt! Why the hell am I even here, if Pokemon are supposed to help people!"

I wasn't completely sure of what I was talking about when I spoke these words (stress, lack of sleep, and physical trauma can do _something_ to your brain to have you act crazy.) Despite the confused wording, John turned to me, muttering the same "Wha?" as last time, crunching away at his toothpick.

"It's the same as Christmas! If I didn't come with you and stayed home, everything would have ended according to plan, safe and sound!" I was gasping for air now, furiously adding volume to my words. "Same thing here! If I stayed here, and Tasha took you, then I wouldn't be in this mess, and you wouldn't have everyone worrying about you like now. Everything would have been better off if I just left, or even better, didn't exist!"

That last part may have been a little too harsh, even to me. I didn't really want to not exist, just in the sense I wouldn't get involved with John. That way, all the things that happened to him so far wouldn't have happened.

"Maria, I'm sorry," John muttered, and got up from the bed to reach out for a kiwi this time. "but I didn't catch all that. You talked to fast."

I grunted in response, giving up on the matter altogether. "Forget it, nevermind." I closed my eyes, trying to get some sleep.

"But, I just heard some bits, and let me see if I got your logic right." John sat silently for a few seconds, and let out a question. "So, you _wanted_ me to be kidnapped?"

"What?" I reopened my eyes, hoping that my glare would make him realize his stupidity. "No, of course not! What makes you think that?"

"You just said that it would be better off if you didn't exist, and if that happened, I would have been kidnapped, with God-knows-what could have happened to me. Nobody would have known about this if it weren't for you. Are you alright with that?"

"No I'm not alright with that!"

"So that means you want to stay existing, right?"

My mouth was frozen mid-way of forming my words. Although my brain was throbbing from yelling so much, I quickly realized the predicament I put myself in. "Wait, it's not like I-"

"It's more obvious you're not thinking straight because of your beatings, but you know what the problem is. You're just like Tasha, now I think about it." John scratched his head, and laid himself beside me on the bed.

"How am I like her in any way?" I was in such bad shape because of her Bolt's Iron Tail, and the last thing I need is comparison.

"You're both very young, hot-headed, and got beaten up." John said bluntly.

"Wha-"I began, but I took a moment to think his words over. I was born only last year, so I guess I was young. Hot-headed...I popped out of my Pokeball to meet Jess at the school, so I could be that too easy. Not to mention last night...but beaten up? "What do you mean, she got beaten up?"

"Well..." John stammered for a bit, thinking for an appropriate explanation. "It's just a guess, but Tasha was way too quiet. Her face was red, so I guess she'd been crying about _something_. At first glance, I thought she'd been hit by Sing or something like that."

_Well, she was...3 times, in fact._

"Anyways, you know yourself best, but you rush into these things without thinking much. I'm not one to pick out flaws and rub it in people, so I won't talk no more. Sorry about this." He got up and off the bed. He put a hand on my bandaged head. "Try to eat some of that food I brought up. I need to get to school." A light chuckle escaped him. "Why did they have to kidnap me on a Thursday, of all days..."

As he left the room, I desperately wanted him to stay, tell him that I'll change myself. But he quickly left and shut the door.

I positioned myself upright on the bed and looked around the room, completely blank on what to do. I was never in a state bad enough to have me stay still. Even if Tasha's Bolt attacked me at Jess's, I was still well enough to use my moves. Now I felt like I was literally put through the wringer.

For the next minute or so, I just glazed my sight over the bed and table.

_Now what?_

My eyes drifted to the plate on the table, virtually untouched. The colourful fruit didn't look nearly as appetizing, even with their tantalizing appearance. Despite a lack of hunger and my weakened state, I telekinetically grabbed one of the kiwi pieces, desperate for its sweet taste to uplift my spirits.

_Come on...almost..._

SPRLT!

"...why am I so pathetic?"

With that, I buried my face into the blankets.

...

John's POV

The day at school was just as depressing. Because of my sleep deprivation, I was constantly at the brink of sleep in all my classes. I had to pinch myself under the desk to keep conscious. At the end of the first period, my left arm had red lines all over from my nails. And lunch-I left in such a rush I didn't even bring change for the vending machines.

"Should have eaten more fruits..." I grumbled to myself as I marched to my last class, math. This wasn't too hard, as we just started a new unit and everyone struggled a bit to understand the new terms and techniques.

_Hurry and ring, damn bell, I'm hungry as hell! I want to go home and eat something! Anything!_

_Hey, that rhymes!_

After the bell rang, I finished jotting down the last of my homework and packed up. I slung the bag over my back and dashed out the door. Trying to ignore everyone to the best of my abilities, my only concern was to get back home ASAP and check on Maria.

"Hey, John!"

Without thinking, I whipped my head so fast I heard a crick of bone. Rubbing my neck, I surveyed the hallway to find anyone who even had the slightest interest in me.

"John! Here!"

A different voice this time called to me. It would have been easy, now that I was certain of the voice's whereabouts. However, the hall was crammed with exiting students anxious for the weekend, resulting in my face pressed against the lockers. A few moments later, the tide of teens died down and I was able to make my way through the students to the source of the shouts.

"Screw this, he's too slow!"

This time the source made its way to me. It was Jess, and Kari was following behind.

_Huh, I almost didn't recognize them, with what just happened. I can't remember the last time I even met them..._

The latter was holding a folded newspaper in her hand. Kari jogged past Jess and shook the tabloid around. "John, did you see this-"

"John, you gotta see this! It talks about-"Jess cut in, pointing frantically at Kari like a tattletale. She swiped the newspaper with frightening speed and without ripping it, spread it open in my face.

I was too concentrated on entertaining myself by admiring Kari's agitated face facing Jess's to pay attention. As much as this information was worthwhile, I was stressed from the morning classes and I needed some humor. I just stood silently, still stunned from their sudden surprise.

"Anyways!" Kari objected, taking the tabloid back. "Before her interruption..." Kari glanced at Jess, who raised her hands to protect herself from her imminent wrath. "Read this-no, just look at the picture here!"

I skimmed the pages, looking for the biggest picture I could find-it was in full colour, but extremely blurry, like an earthquake was happening as it was taken.

"Why are all the important pictures shaky as hell?" The picture was mostly green and brown with trees covering the majority of the screen. However, the figure of a running person was clear as day, but his or her face was covered by the shade made by a hat.

"So what about it? Just a guy running away." I relaxed myself, and started stepping around the two.

Jess grabbed my shirt, and pulled me back in front of the newspaper. "Read the subtitles!"

As awkward as the situation just turned (as someone with minimal physical contact with anyone outside my family and still surrounded by students, I was frightened for a moment), I craned my back so the words below the picture were eye-level.

I read the words slowly and out loud. "The witness and photographer Atacado Testigo took this picture as the assaulter was running away from him. Testigo informed the police that "a monster attacked". The "monster" in question can be vaguely seen in the bottom-right corner." I stared back at the aforementioned spot, but all I could see was greenery.

"What monster?" I said tiredly.

"Look at the red!" While Kari flattened out the page, Jess was pointing at the corner whispering. Looking closer, I could see something red in the midst of the greenery, but I still thought it was some shrubbery.

"So what? Probably just some flowers or bloodstains the witness spilt when he was "assaulted"." It wouldn't surprise me. A knife, no matter how short, can draw a lot of blood if sharp enough.

_You would know, wouldn't you?_

_This has nothing to do with me, brain._

"That's what we thought!" Jess whispered directly to my ear. This girl needed to calm down a notch. "But even if it's blood, this guy testified that a monster attacked him. That can only be a Pokemon!"

As ridiculous as it sounded initially, a Pokemon would fit the simple definition of 'monster' (Pokemon are 'Pocket Monsters' after all!) "So what does this have anything to do with any of us?"

"Nio told me his plan, when I met with him and you remember?" Kari urged on. "He told all of us to keep Pokemon out. But if this assaulter had a Pokemon, and it's in the news, any of us could be possible suspects." She folded the newspaper and shoved it in her bag.

"No way." I started walking away again, and this time the girls followed beside me. This was extremely uncomfortable, as we were still inside the building and we had people looking at us. My unnecessary notoriety was still in effect, and the stares I got were maddening.

"Yes way. Even if the witness doesn't think it's us, it's still going to land some suspicion on us. They'll think that red was just blood like you, and the monster could be any one of us. This isn't just some rumor or a UFO sighting on the internet, this is a big, professional tabloid!" Kari was persistent. I was not in the mood for this. I had to get to Maria and check up on her.

"Look, sorry if I don't sound interested." I needed to get this out of the way, and run back home. "But I need to get back home. I want to check up on Maria. She's hurt, bad."

"Maria's hurt?!" Thankfully, Jess somehow yelled quietly enough so that we were drowned by the surrounding students. "What happened? She's hurt bad? Worse than Christmas?"

"Damn it, Jess, hush." Kari silenced her. She looked around for any onlookers before continuing. "But seriously? She's hurt how bad?"

"Bad enough to stay in bed wrapped in bandages."

"Come on, you gotta tell us more than that!" Jess objected, sounding desperate to know what happened to her favorite ghost-type.

_What should I do? If I tell them about last night, then it could cause a whole another row of consequences! And Maria would think she'd caused all this and mope about it even more! What do I do!_

"She just, uhh...injured herself during training."

_Wonderful excuse John. What's next? She hit herself on a wall? Bit her tongue? Chipped a non-existent nail?_

"Oh. Can we go see her?" Jess questioned.

_Should I? Well, just taking them to see Maria wouldn't make her sad, would it? But if I take them home, Maria might tell them, no, my parents would be the first. My mom's always such a gossip!_

I didn't know what to do, so I decided to humor them. "Even if I told you no, would you go?"

"Hell yeah!" Jess exclaimed as we walked out the school doors. "Mac and Mitsune missed you and Maria! We haven't seen each other for a while! This'll be a good chance to catch up on things."

_Well, this is going to hell pretty fast. But now's not the time to think about your reputation. Girls can be bitchy, and they're not going to leave until their questions were answered._

...

"Mom, I'm back!"

I pushed the door forward and to my relief, everything was silent, aside from some noise at the kitchen. Mom walked into view and her face creased with a wide grin.

"Oh my! Friends of yours? Come in, come, come!" she shouted eagerly, ushering the two girls behind me.

I remained on spot, my back slump in disbelief. _Aren't you forgetting someone, mom?_

Rapidly regaining my composure, I took my shoes off and closed the door behind me. While my nosy mother was busy pampering the guests, starting with Kari ("No, no thank you, Mrs. Evans!"), I was jogging upstairs, worried that Maria, being the hot-head I knew her, was gone and maybe out training herself somewhere.

Recklessly, I forced the door open, creating a loud BAMP! as it hit the wall. Right away, I spotted a large lump under the blankets.

_Oh hell, don't tell me she left a pillow-_

Before I could reach a hand to pull back the sheets, it moved itself away from the figure underneath. I took a step back in fright, but saw pink strands from the edges of the blankets.

"Oh...my head. John, please shut up. I'm trying to sleep."

Maria eventually squirmed her way out of the holds of the blanket, and she managed to stand upright. Her hair somehow escaped the bandages and was let down, covering a healthy bit of her remaining right eye. She looked like a real ghost now, and I didn't know how to respond.

"Maria?" was all I could utter. I knelt beside the bed but kept my hands to myself, in case she was in an even bigger slump than before.

"I'm good, I'm good." She insisted, smiling as she said so. "But the fruits this morning, I..."

I got to my feet and felt something wet on my pants. I brushed my hand over and sniffed it. It was sweet, but strong; to a point where I almost thought it was something alcoholic. But a few more inhales, and I realized it was spoiled kiwi.

I held back a groan of disgust, and went to my desk to get a tissue. Unfortunately, as I did this I noticed the plate still had the fruit I left for her, black specks floating around them.

"Oh, damn." I couldn't help myself, and I shooed the flies away before feeling the plate. The fruits were dried out, and the juices made the plate sticky to the touch.

_Maria was so tired she couldn't even eat? Dear God..._

"Don't mind the fruit." I laughed out. "We got flies to worry about now." I released the platter and grabbed a tissue box. I pulled several out and cleaned up the mess on the floor.

"That's not how you comfort a girl!"

I clenched the wet tissue in surprise and looked up. Kari and Jess were at the doorway, the former holding a plate of assorted cookies and a glass of milk, and the latter making the outburst. Both had frowns on their faces, but Jess's blond hair was practically flying in rage and her eyes looked like my mom's when she saw my biology test score last month.

"Hurry up and get those disgusting fruits out of here!" Jess commanded in a surprisingly authoritative tone. Both Maria's and my mouth was open in bewilderment. I never saw her this angry, and it scared me into silence.

Kari, noticing the situation, gave a sigh. She put her cookies and milk on the bed, handed me the fruit plate, grabbed my arm, and dragged me out of the room. "You are so..._helpless!_"

BANG!

Dumbly, I turned to see the closed door. "What...just happened?"

...

Maria's POV

"What are you doing here?" I inquired, more to myself than them. The sleep I got was counterbalancing the lack of nutrition this morning, and I couldn't add much volume to my voice. I wanted to ask why they kicked him out (of his own room!), but due to my first question, I felt the energy draining out of me quickly.

"Wait, before we do anything," Kari responded, returning from the door. "We should let Mac and Mitsune out." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a Pokeball.

"Good idea." Jess said with a smile, and pulled back her sleeve, revealing a pink-red PokeNav strapped to her arm. Grabbing her Pokeball, both of them released a beam of light into the room, making my eye sting at the sudden illumination. I didn't even have time to recover my sight before I heard two familiar voices.

"What the hell happened to you?" the rough voice of a Mightyena barked at me.

"Uh, let me explain-"

"Oh my! How did you get those injuries?" the smooth yet stern Ninetales pondered.

"I was about to get to that!" I shook myself awake, free from the blinding pain. I took a moment to observe them after weeks since their last appearance. Mac seemed to have gotten bigger, fluffier black fur, and a more pronounced set of gleaming but yellowing teeth. I would have flown back in fear if I wasn't so exhausted. Mitsune looked more..._beautiful_, for a lack of a better word. Her silver fur was surprisingly clean, and her red eyes were stern as always.

"But before I do that..." I turned my eyes to the confections in front of me. "Can you pass some of those cookies here?"

"Oh, sure." Jess fetched one of the round ones and brought them to my mouth. My cheeks were burning through the bandages, being fed by hand like this. Reluctantly, I leaned forward and crunched down on the biscuit. The sensation of much-needed sugar instantaneously made my mouth salivate, and I forgot to chew, letting the cookie crumble instead.

"Strange." Mac spoke up.

"What's strange?" Jess asked him.

"This seems like a moment where you would squeal at the cuteness of the scene. It's just something you would do." He cast a lame glare at her, as if expecting her to squeal right now.

The rest of the room gave a slow and long "Ohhh..." of understanding. I didn't join in; I was too busy savoring the cookie. Even with that single bite, I felt my body starting to move again.

"Well, feeding a patient isn't as cute as most comics and TV show it as." Jess reasoned, put off by her Pokemon's assumption. "Besides, it would be a lot cuter if John was doing it."

The thought of such a thing made my face feel like it was on the verge of exploding. That's never going to happen! At least not in the way I imagine it!

"Cuter doing what?" The door burst open and revealed making all of us jump. John was at the doorway, wide-eyed and taken aback at the sudden crowdedness of his room. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Didn't we say that this was a good chance to get the Pokemon to meet again? It's been so long." Jess explained. "More importantly, what happened to her?" She pointed at me, her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He looked at me with a serious look on his face. I imagine he was thinking of whether to tell the truth or make up a lie. "I told you before," he ultimately declared. "she injured herself during one of her training sessions. Tasha and Bolt were helping her out, but then an accident happened, and here she is."

"Tasha and Bolt? The girl and her Pokemon in the news weeks ago?" Mitsune cried. "When did this happen?"

"Uh, just yesterday." John stammered. I was worried that his reluctance to answer might tip them off. If his fibs increased in absurdity, then they might bully him into spilling the truth, and I didn't want that.

"Yesterday?" Kari interrupted. "You weren't in the forest that day."

"Yeah, and when did you get so friendly with her anyways?" Jess pressed onwards, giving John a funny look as she did.

John raised a hand to silence the room. "She tried and failed to take away Maria a couple weeks ago. Maria put her to sleep with Confuse Ray, I brought her home, and we made up."

"Just how exactly did you 'make up'?" Kari asked, her words laced with curiosity.

"Uhm..." John stammered a bit, and shoved his hands into his pockets. "We just...talked, really." He sat down on the bed and grabbed a cookie. "Hm?" He waved the sweet treat in front of me. I realized he was trying to feed me. Contrary to my previous assumption, it wasn't as embarrassing as I thought it would be, and instead it was slightly annoying, being nursed like this.

"Uh...thanks." I reached forward and grabbed it out of his hands, before chewing it whole. I thought it would be awkward, having a crowd of girls looking at us, but I concentrated on relishing the taste.

"Aww, I thought it would be a lot cuter." Jess moaned in dejection.

"You've been reading too many romantic novels." Mac growled, and lied down next to her. "Besides, we're here. Of course it wouldn't be cute, but awkward."

"If I may ask, where's Tasha now?" Mitsune questioned. "I would like to meet with her and maybe even a fight with Bolt."

"Yeah, you need to pay that rat back after frying you like that!" Jess grinned angrily at the thought. I remembered that she was partly zapped by Bolt, and smiled at the thought. It didn't calm me to see her grasping at the air as if about to strangle someone.

"Tasha I...I don't know." The cookie on the way to his mouth stopped. He dropped his hands to his sides, and looked down at the floor. "Her father took her away after the practise. I don't know where she is."

"What!" Jess actually got to her feet and clenched her fists. "Her dad? Who's he?"

"Philip Sing. Tasha's an orphan adopted by him. He's working on rehabilitating Eglington, my old hometown."

Jess jabbed a finger at him giddily, as if she won the lottery and was too excited to form words. "Oh yeah, you said you went to elementary school there! Before..."

"Before my parents moved out, yes." John shooed away her words with his hand. "It's not much off a sensitive issue, don't worry. We should be worrying more about that new player."

"New player?" Shocked, I inquired further. "What player?" I glanced at the glass of milk on the plate, and managed to levitate it over before John gave an answer.

Kari handed him a folded piece of paper. He unfolded it and laid it on the bed, showing a picture of someone running. "Someone attacked another with a Pokemon yesterday." John pointed to something red in the bottom corner.

"Another Pokemon sighting?" I took a small sip of milk to help my thought process.

_Another person with Pokemon? How many of these people are there?_

"Yeah. I imagined that the Pokemon would have to blend in with the environment if it's almost unrecognizable in the picture."

John got up and went to his laptop on his desk. "Give me a minute." He rapidly pressed some keys, and a list of words appeared on the screen. "Red but mostly green. Maybe it's this Pokemon?" A click of the mouse and a picture replaced the words.

Jess picked me up and laid me down on the desk to get a better look. "Treeko?" I said out loud. "That's our attacker?" I took a good look at the Pokemon. A pair of dark green tails, a red underbelly, yellow eyes, and 3-digit hands and feet. It easily gave the impression of a reptile.

"Maybe." Kari whispered for no apparent reason. "Green and red skin, it fits the description. But there's other Pokemon with that colouring."Fraxure, Larvitar, Flygon..."

"Wow. You don't have Pokemon plushies in your room without a reason, huh?" John chortled, making Kari lightly slap his shoulder in indignation.

"I just like to collect okay!" she barked at him. I heard snickers from Mitsune, and eventually Mac joined in on the laughter.

"Seriously, though." Jess started. This was the first time I've seen her so austere. "Should we do just nothing about this new guy? I've been trying to keep low for so long Mac's probably the weakest out of the three."

"I heard that!"

"My point is, what if this guy starts causing trouble for us?"

"I hope Alex is up for the task of finding him, then." John shrugged his shoulders, oblivious to Jess's sternness. "None of us are suited for fighting, so if this guy decides to attack us, our best option's to just run."

"No way!"

Everyone was staring at me, but I didn't care. No one got stronger for running away, and Tasha's proof of that! "I can keep fighting, don't worry! All you need to do is carry me around-"

"No way." John shook his hand and head in disagreement. His loud objection shut me up good. "You were almost killed, and I'm not risking that again. You're going to stay here. If it wasn't for Alex, you'd be dead."

"Wait, Alex?" Jess interrupted. "What's he got to do with what happened to her?"

John was taken aback, and this time, he had a harder time to come up with an excuse. "Oh! Uhm..."

"Alex was looking for Tasha." I answered swiftly. "We don't know why, but he just was. And he caught us just as we were fighting each other, him and Sing."

"You met him before? Sing, I mean. You sound familiar with each other." Kari asked.

"Only once. When he came by my house to ask about Tasha's whereabouts. She's a regular delinquent." John replied confidently.

"That explains why she busted into my house unannounced." Jess grumbled.

A moment of silence filled the room. It was so abrupt that I dropped my cookie when I realized it. It looked like everyone had all their questioned answered.

"You got nothing else to ask, then leave." John coldly declared. "Maria needs rest."

"That's no way to treat guests!" Jess whined good-heartedly. "But you're right; we should get home before our parents get worried." The girls returned their respective Pokemon and left the room. We could hear John's mother begging them to stay, but they persuaded her to let them out. We couldn't hear the whole conversation, however, as John closed the door behind them.

"Sorry about all that. You must be tired."

"No, no! It's fine." I told him. "Don't get so worried about me like this."

"Sorry." He closed his laptop and sat down next to me, stuffing a cookie in his mouth. "If you get hurt this bad again, I don't know what I'd do."

This was one of those things that he said subconsciously that caught me off-guard. My cheeks started flush when I tried to brush him off. "But seriously. I want to fight, I want to help you. Why won't you let me?"

He sighed before answering. "With what happened, at Christmas and last night, you and I both know you're the strongest out of you three. But look at you now, almost killed. We can't risk getting into a big fight like that again."

_He's just worried about me like always, of course. But I can't help but feel...attracted? No, that's not the right word, and love's definitely not it either!_

_Well, maybe..._

"But until you get better, just don't leave the house alright? And next time, call my mom upstairs if you need help with anything. We can't waste anymore fruit!" He laughed out as he exited the room.

I took a moment to think over his words, and took the last biscuit on the plate and raised it to my mouth.

_I'm stuck on this bed until who-knows-how-long, and he's going to live his daily life, knowing that someone's attacking people with Pokemon? Well, if I want to help him out, I'll just have to get better faster._

_You're both very young, hot-headed, and got beaten up..._

_...you rush into these things without thinking much..._

_I get it now John. There's more to getting stronger than just fighting. But there has to be more than just resting too..._

CRRK!

I stared at the crumpled cookie in my hold, and smiled.

...

I'm so glad I finished this chapter before school starts! Now I can start packing my stuff to get ready!

Anyways, I'm sorry you're disappointed with this chapter, but what trouble could John and Maria go through if they're recovering from their last fight?

I'm surprised where Jess and Kari stands in this story now. When I first started this, I planned to have them as sidekicks to John and such, but now, they're the most secondary of character's I've seen. I'm hoping they would take a bigger role involving this new player (thanks for the character shinykyurem, but I have a slightly different plan for him!) It takes place in their school after all!

But now, with actual school starting, I won't be able to update as often (maybe once every 2 weeks?), but I hope you stay tuned for the next chapter!

(And for anyone giving a damn, the name 'Atacado Testigo' literally means 'attacked witness'. Yeah, the poor guy had it coming, with a name like that.)


	37. Shutterfly

Alex's POV

"Great! Now someone _else_ is attacking people with Pokemon out of the blue!"

"If there was such a person, shouldn't you have found them and sworn them into secrecy?" For one of the few times I've seen him, a frown was present instead of a smile. He obviously remembers my original task of keeping Pokemon hidden, but he has no one else to blame but me.

I can't say I disagree with his accusation. "Typical people. Always like to flaunt their powers, just because they got them! If I tried to force them, then my cover would be busted. Rumors would spread even further, and finally attract the government itself. And God knows that's the last thing we need."

Nio gripped his glass of water to a point where I was afraid it my break in his grip. I remembered my first experience with glass objects-not very pleasant, what with razor-thin crystals in my palm and fingers. "How about you find him again, and make sure he stays silent? As long as he doesn't notice you and Light, the consequences should be minimal. Can't he also erase memories as well?"

"Light can do that, but it'll take a while and erasing memories not as easy as it sounds. This is a big town, and while I remember every one of his features, Light's the one making the effort of tracking him down." I replied half-heartedly. Scouting around a large area's nothing new, but it takes some time, and having only Light track him down made it all the more harder.

"You told me that you belonged to a family of Aurors. Can't you help him with that?" Nio asked the obvious question.

"Can't." I said bluntly. "While I was able to do it in the past, I can't do it anymore. Comes with not being able to use Aura."

_That wouldn't be the case if you just fed me a couple souls!_

_Shut up! I'm not taking any more lives for you! I told you "No" from before and that's that!_

"Shame. Why did you lose such abilities, anyways." Nio said absentmindedly, and walked past me to put his cup into the sink for later washing. "Never mind, but what of Sing? You told me he kidnapped John. What happened to him now?"

"Sing's still working in the day. I saw him yesterday, and he's acting as if what happened underground never happened. I try to act the same."

"He's not going back down in Eglington, is he?" He asked with a serious tone.

"Why don't _you_ go ask him that?" I countered. I wasn't ready to get my cover blown, and with the construction crew above ground, I can't even enter the small town without permission from the higher-ups, specifically Sing. I wrapped the newspaper in my hands. "I'll have Light track this player down. But now, my identity in the government's becoming more and more exposed. I have to watch out for what I do more than ever." I walked to the door, but something about Nio's words bugged me. "Why are you so concerned with Eglington anyways?"

Hearing this, he relaxed a bit, and calmly replied, "You know my portal's in Eglington, don't you?" I nodded in remembrance. "My portal, as you'd have guessed, is underground. If Sing's underground base finds my portal, then who knows what he could do with it."

"Destroy our chance of going home, blackmail, et cetera, et cetera..." I mused sarcastically, with a wave of my hands for effect. "But is the portal under the school?"

"No, of course not. I'm no fool. I work with secret stuff all the time back when I was head scientist." He waved his own hand in assurance.

"Then where is it?"

I was getting impatient with this. If we were both going to get back home, I needed to know what I'm involved in. I needed something to raise my morale, and seeing this portal's just the thing for that.

"I'm sorry," Just those two words made me clench my fist. I had to exhale the snarl in my mouth the turn it into a sigh to keep civil. "you've been very trusting of me, and it would be insulting to you if I didn't trust you back, after all these events. If you'll let me, I'll show you something better."

I sneered at his words. "What could be more important than the machine that'd get us home?" I turned around and faced the door, ready to leave.

"How about the damn thing that makes the portal run?"

That got my attention. "What do you mean? Other than electricity?"

"Of course." Nio chuckled, noticing my alertness. "I told John about this, but not specifically what it is. Now, if you'll let me, I'll be happy to show you. You've more than gained my trust."

"Well, thank, I guess." I stuttered out. He was being surprisingly open like this, and it was weird having someone flattering you like he did. I didn't know what to say. "But, why?"

"You've been working hard to keep up your cover, discover new players, and cope with the pressure of all this. A leader such as I should try to keep up morale among his group, no?" He jogged out of the room and went upstairs.

_He's so...spontaneous! What kind of person was he before all this?!_

A series of thumping feet later, and Nio was back, carrying a big, locked, silver suitcase in hand. "Here. This will remind you of what you're fighting for." He plugged in the combination to it (away from my eyes, of course) and showed me its contents.

It was a small glass prism, shaped like an octahedron. I took it out of its pocket, fitting it in my hand like a large die. Its grooved edges looked golden, and its vertices connected the edges together in a silver ball. It looked like a giant jewel decoration for a chandelier. I saw something moving inside of it, so I brought it up to my face for a closer look.

A blue smoke was swirling around gently like a tornado. I shook the container, and the smoke compressed itself into a small blue pool that filled the glass a quarter full. After a few seconds of staying still, the water reverted back into vapour.

At first, my mind was a blank. But it didn't take long to recognized the characteristics. My hands were shaking so much I quickly placed it back in the case, afraid that I might drop it. "That's...Aura! Pure, undiluted Aura! " I whispered aloud. I couldn't believe I was seeing. "How did you get that?!"

"Arceus gave it to me, saying it was what I needed to complete my portal. But it's still not ready. When this...'key' accumulated enough Aura, then it will be ready to power the portal, and send us back home."

"But...that's impossible!" I gasped out. "Aura only comes from Pokemon and Aurors. How is this thing holding Aura, anyways?!"

"It's a tool from Arceus. What'd you expect?" Nio's sarcasm was practically leaking from his mouth. "However, shouldn't the important question be, "Where did that Aura come from?"?" He waited in silence, egging me to answer my own question.

"That's easy. Aura originates from the souls of Pokemon and Aurors. Hell, even normal humans. Aurors believe that it's because of a human's body that most people can't release Aura like Pokemon can through moves and evolution-"

My breath stopped midway as I said those words. Silence filled the entire house for a minute. I felt as if I just drank a tankard of ice water, my insides shriveling like a prune. My head was boiling, water leaking out of my eyes.

"That...that _thing_...contains..."

"...the souls of fallen Pokemon and humans, yes."

"Since _when!?_"

"Since the beginning of course."

John's POV

With Maria resting at home, and the hostile player lurking around, I tried to keep a low cover. Now that Maria's hospitalized, I was able to get back to my regular lifestyle. A good thing, considering that my marks have dropped dramatically, and I needed every homework, projects, and assignments I could get to raise my marks (I never thought I would say that!)

The stranger assaulter didn't appear on the news anymore, but he appeared in the wanted poster. Although a portrait of his face wasn't available, the Testigo witness gave a moderate list of his face and body qualities, as well as the 'monster' he had. Unfortunately, his description was too common to attract any attention from me, but I still tried to keep an eye out for him.

It's been nearly a week since I've come back from Eglington, but my parents were being overly attached to me, asking me question after question about where I've been, if I've seen any suspicious people, and so forth. As soon as I came back home, I ran right up to my room to avoid any questioning.

"Are they still at it?" Maria would often ask, hovering around the room. She's been healing faster ever since Jess and Kari visited-looked like those cookies worked wonders. Now, Maria was focusing on getting exercise, mainly by flying laps around my room.

"Yeah, they still don't believe I should be walking around." I dropped my backpack, and launched myself onto my bed, relieved that tomorrow was a Saturday. "You're doing good? Got any better?"

"Yeah, I can move around perfectly fine. Can you remove these bandages?" Maria landed on my stomach, staring directly in my eyes, making me squirm in discomfort.

"Okay, fine! Just stop looking at me like that, I can't stand it!" I relented helplessly. After a week, it's reasonable to think she's completely healed, but I didn't want to unwrap her bandages until after our next meeting with Alex. After all, he's the most experienced with Pokemon. "I'm just worried that I might open up some wounds or something if I did. But, since you insist..."

Maria a sigh of relief. "Oh thank God! You wouldn't believe what it's like, having a full-body bandage like this!"

"No, but I imagine there would be a lot of itching and sweating every night?" I jested as I struggled slightly to find the end of the coiled cloth.

She slowly, but surely, nodded her head in agreement so that I would not lose track of the bandages. A couple seconds later, and I found the end, and I started untying the knot. The cloth unravelled like toilet paper, and in a few seconds, I was left with a relatively healed Maria.

"How do I look?" She asked tentatively, probably worried that her face might as reconfigured itself or something.

"Fine. Just a few band-aids here and there, and..." The cotton dressing I taped to her eye was looking somehow..._eerie. _That was the part of her that was damaged the most, and I was afraid of taking it off and revealing a bloody gash. I shivered at the thought-a ghost-type with an open wound. Would it be sight worthy of a horror film?

"This is a bad idea, but, since you insist." I gently peeled one of the two medical tapes from her skin, and the entire dressing came off clean.

"Well, how's it?" The ghost Pokemon asked inquisitively. She sounded almost desperate to know how the wound blemished her face.

I tried to keep a straight face as I inspected the affliction. I was starting to think she should have gotten stitches instead; the skin was broken but a bloodless gouge was present dangerously close to her left eye. Under her purple skin, there was a blur of dark-red flesh. I squirmed a bit at the sight of an open wound. It would probably remain as a scar her whole life

"It's...not bleeding anymore, but it's going to leave a nasty scar." I proclaimed, worrying that any movement might reopen the wound.

Maria sighed at my words. "Oh, it's just that. I was thinking that my skull would have been broken or something. But then again, if that was the case, it would be impossible, seeing that according to Alex, I have no bones in my body."

"Yeah, but try to avoid straining yourself. We don't want that wound to rip itself open again." I threw the tangled bandages and other accessories into a nearby trashcan.

"Great, thanks for that gross visual!" Maria remarked in an ornery way. "Huh, it doesn't hurt as much as I thought it would."

"That being said, I don't want you go to out outside just yet."

She immediately opened her mouth in disbelief. "What? Why?"

"Along with this mystery player, there's still dozens of other players, running around, not to mention Sing and his troupe. They could be sneaking around, especially Nio and Alex. What if they try kidnapping _you_ this time?"

That managed to stop her talking, and she closed her mouth for once. It looked like she's been thinking over what I said. "Well...then, when can I go outside then?"

"I'll take you out the next time we see Nio and Alex. We could go tomorrow, since it's a Friday, so I have time after school. Hopefully, my parents will let me out if I say I'm visiting one of my 'girlfriend's houses."

Maria had a funny look on her face, like she had food stuck in her teeth. "Do you really think that Jess and Kari are gir-_girlfriends_?" The stutter instantly grabbed my attention.

My blood was boiling at the word, and I was opening and closing my mouth repeatedly to form words. "No, not at all! Wait, I can't say that-well, they're friends, and yes, they're girls, but they're not like-I don't think of them that way!"

At those words, Maria gave what was undeniably a sigh of relief. It didn't take me long to follow her train of thought. I cracked a smug grin as I walked closer to her. "Ohh...you're jealous, aren't you?"

Her wide eyes opened to their fullest, wrinkling her scar, and she turned the other way. "That's not, that's not what I meant!"

I planted myself on the bed next to her. She continued to look away, allowing me to easily pick her up in my arms. Surprisingly, she didn't struggle against my grip. "Come on, I'm just joking! Don't take it so personal."

I continued to hold her, "Couldn't you have said something a bit more...you know..._touching_?"

That caught me completely off-guard, and I was left with my mouth open and my mind blank. "Uhh...touching? Can you...elaborate?"

"Well..." From her hesitation, I guess she didn't know what to say either. "Just...it's just that...this feels like a really _intimate_ moment, and...things are getting more awkward every second, isn't it?"

"...yeah."

_Well that didn't go as I expected it to be. Judging from last time I did this, she was a lot more...engaging. Maybe she's seriously thinking about something?_

My face was turning from red hot clammy cold. It looked like she needed some time alone thinking by herself. I let her out of my hands and she floated into the air, still refusing to look at me, and more at the ground.

I shifted my hands in my pockets. "Urhm, sorry about that. You looked kinda down, so..."

"No, no!" Her face was rejuvenated with emotion again, and looking at it made me feel better fast. "No, thanks for being...considerate. But I'm just thinking over what you said."

"About being too...hot-blooded?" She nodded in confirmation. "Well, it's good to know you're serious about this. I miss that energetic look of yours, though."

_Wait, did that just come out loud?_

She let out a short laugh and turned to look at me. But the instance she did that, he looked away again. "Which one do you want me to be? Energetic but stubborn? Or calm but meek?"

I let out a laugh of my own. Frankly, I didn't know which one suits her the most. "Both I guess. Where appropriate of course."

Another chuckle from us filled the room, until it reached full-out cackles of laughter. Suddenly, she tackled me in my stomach, light enough so I wouldn't stop laughing, but with enough force to send me into the air and land on my back on my bed. I didn't care-I was too busy laughing with Maria.

_Oh Maria. What would I be without you?_

...

**BRRRRRIIIIIING!**

The whole classroom stood up from their chairs in unison. After a chorus of bags being zipped up, every one of us ran to the door as fast as possible to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Unfortunately, I was once again stuck in the middle of the sea of teens. I had to hold my breath to keep from choking from the various smells of people, and after the students spread out evenly, I was free to take in a clean mouthful of oxygen.

_Every time! Every damn time, I get crushed! Well, I can't blame them, since they probably want to get out of school more than me, but damn they're rushed!_

I made it to the main lobby, and on a whim, did a quick 360 to see if Kari and Jess were anywhere, trying to get my attention through the noise-filled room. Luckily, they weren't even in sight (hey, it's not like I'm _trying _to avoid them!), so I kept on walking to the exit.

"Hello! Excuse me?"

As soon as I passed through the door, a black man besides the entrance side-stepped, stopping my walk and causing me to jump back in shock. He was wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap, and a blue dress shirt under a green sweater (why he would wear a sweater in late spring, I have no idea). Other than that, he looked pretty normal, aside from a Sony video camera bag by his side. The most distinguishing, however, was his ridiculous height, well past 6 feet. If I may be so boastful, he was the poster boy for stereotypical basketball players.

"Yes, what is it?" I stuttered through my surprise. What would this man want anything to do with me?

He raised a hand as salutations. "Hi, Wes Vertel. I just want to ask, you read this news, about this "monster"?" He popped his bag open and pulled out a folded paper. He unwrapped it, showing a blurred figure and a green-red one, clearly trying to run out of sight.

I blinked in surprise. I didn't know this would attract _that_ much attention. "Yeah, I did, just yesterday."

The man took a step back and folded up the page. After stuffing it back in his pocket, he pulled out a small notepad and pen. "I'm a photojournalist, and I'm trying to look this so-called "monster". Just wondering if you've seen anything like it?"

I stammered a bit, growing flustered and hot every second the man stared with his grey eyes.

_If I tell them that "monster" was a Pokemon, I doubt he would take it seriously. Oh what am I saying, anything unusual going around is supposed to be catnip for these kind of people, isn't it?_

"Uhm, no. I just...saw the picture my friends showed me yesterday. I didn't even get to read the article that well."

"You should read the papers more. This monster's roaming around here somewhere, I know it."

"Wait. This all happened in Dulcetdrift?" I blurted without thinking.

He cracked a small smile. "That's right. This is a quiet town, and anything unusual is sure to cause a buzz. Even if it's a fuzzy picture, it was enough to make it to the news."

"Wait, so you took the picture?"

He waved his hand disapprovingly but kept his grin. "No, I simply bought the picture from the guy, Testigo, and I sold it to the news, Global Daily. Made a bit of cash, but my employers promised a bigger pay and even a staff job if I get a clearer picture. That's why I'm here, asking everyone I can."

"Let me guess. You came and asked me because I looked like an archetypical loner, the kind of character that knows things behind-the-scene?"

I don't know what made me say that, but my body turned cold as soon as I realized what passed through my mouth.

"You know you're movie clichés."

I didn't know whether to smile or laugh along with him. "But really, I don't know about any monsters."

He raised an eyebrow. Never good news. "Really now? Everyone else I asked talked about some ghost-monster at the school in November. Do you know anything about that?"

_Crap_.

"Monster? Ah well..." Worry was quickly replaced with fear. If he knew about Maria, then he would never leave me alone, and find out about more than just me and Pokemon! "I just remember seeing it in the lobby. It's been so long, I don't remember much. It was bedlam, so..."

"You didn't see much. Alright then." He wrote something down on his notepad and ripped the page off. He handed it to me. "If you see anything, call me on my cell. This isn't the first time something weird's happened, and I get the feeling it won't be the last." With that, he turned away, only to inexplicably corner another student.

"Huh." I read the paper, a simple phone number:

**Vertel: 416-346-3858**

"There's people actually searching for these sightings?" I folded the page, shoved it in my pocket, and continued on home.

...

"Hmm. This is a problem."

We were surrounding his table, with Nio sitting at the head, hands clasped in contemplation.

"I was hoping with such a quiet town, this would never happen."

Maria freed herself from my arms and landed on the table. After Alex took a good look at her injuries, he deemed she was fit to go outside, but not into any battles. "Well, now it did, and now there's paparazzi popping up. What do you think about this?"

Nio got up from his seat, adopting a rare angry face. "Looks like we'll have to keep Pokemon indoors, pronto. John, you have Maria's Pokeball?"

"Uh, yeah, I got it right here." I pulled back my sleeve to reveal my blue-red PokeNav. I've dismissed it for so long I completely forgot where I put it and it took a few minutes to find it in my room. I released the Pokeball out and laid it next to Maria.

"Perfect. From now on, everytime you need to leave the house with Maria, bring her in a Pokeball. We can't risk anymore attention. You brought her here outside of her ball, yes?"

"Yes." I squirmed a little at my mistake.

"Remember that next time, try to avoid bring Maria outside at all if possible." Nio gently advised. "But Alex will keep Light out as much as possible to find this...Mr. Vertel."

"That's not very fair." Maria grumbled under her breath. I patted her head to calm her.

"Light needs to find Mr. Vertel to keep his mouth shut. It would be a lot easier if he had Tasha and Bolt with him though." Alex reasoned.

"Alex, have you heard about Tasha from Sing?" I asked him.

He shook his head. "Sing's...reluctant to talk about Tasha. Other than that he has her under control and indoors now. He doesn't even talk about Pokemon or his underground shelter now, and he's nowhere to be found at night-time."

"Of course. He needs to handle the situation down at his end." Nio explained. "I've been receiving calls from him, but I'm surprised not one of them are blackmail-related. Maybe he's really sincere about hospitality to Pokemon."

"Either that, or he's trying to paint Pokemon in a way _he_ wants, not how their trainers want." Alex countered.

**DING-DONG!**

"What the..." I looked at the window beside the front door. I couldn't see well through it, but there was definitely someone behind it. "You have a guest over?"

"No, and I don't order delivery for dinner, either. Quickly, hide Maria!" He got off his chair and walked to the door. I grabbed the ball and before she could object, Maria was zapped into it. I didn't have time to fold up my sleeves to put it in my PokeNav, so in the emergency, I hid it under my shirt. I had to tuck it in my pants to prevent the ball from falling out.

"Hello? Who's this?"

Nio had the perfect timing; as soon as I made myself inconspicuous, he opened the door. Before I could take a look at the visitor though, he spoke out.

"Hey, kid, it's you again!"

My entire body turned around with my head to face the stranger. It was the photographer from the school, but this time, his wide smile failed to calm any of us.

Nevertheless, he kept his smile. "Sorry, forgot to introduce myself. Wes Vertel. I was hoping to ask you some questions."

...

**Wes comes from the varied African word "wys"meaning "show" and "vertel" means loosely "tell". So basically, I tried to make his name translate to "show and tell". Fitting for a snoopy photojournalist! Any guess on how he'll affect the story? Make a review below!**


	38. What can I do?

John's POV

Trying to avoid confrontation from Wes, I sat down on the farthest seat on the table. This did not, however, stop him from occasionally glancing at my direction. I could only react by compressing myself in my seat every time he did to blend in with the background.

"You're Gavin Nio, right? Head of Neo-Charity Foundation?" Wes asked with rapidity, jotting down whatever notes in his notepad.

"Yes, I am." Nio responded with surprising calm. It should be expected; his charity's well-known to those who he supported, and he probably talked around big crowds when the company was at its prime.

"And you are..." Wes turned to Alex, who visibly tensed up at the question.

"Alex. Alex Arlon." He replied shortly. I could see he was trying hard not to look away from Wes. If he did, it might raise some doubt and Wes would continue to press him for more info.

"And you are acquainted with Mr. Nio how?"

"Is my relationship between me and Mr. Arlon the topic of this questioning?" Nio quickly interrupted in a deadpan voice.

The photojournalist smirked a little. "No. I'm sorry for my inquisitiveness. I came here to ask a few questions regarding _this_." He pulled out a familiar newspaper from his back pocket and unfolded it onto the table. "Did you ever see anything like this?" He pointed at the same corner of the image, where the green-and-red figure was running out of the way.

"No. We've seen the newspaper, and this is the first time we've seen anything like that too." Nio answered in the same monotonous tone.

"Anything unusual? Out of place? Anything at all? It doesn't have to resemble this thing." Wes wouldn't back down, firing questions in rows to get Nio to slip up on one of his answers.

"We haven't. I rarely go outside anyways, and Mr. Arlon here's just a friend of mine."

"And you, Mr. Arlon? See anything weird around here? Heard about that mysterious "gas explosion" back in Christmas?"

"Gas explosion? You mean the one at Markville Department Store? Yeah I remember that." Hearing this, Nio quickly walked behind Wes, and gave Alex a "Stop talking now!" look.

"Yes. Many people reported seeing a large red-yellow monster on site. This monster was seen shooting fire from his arms like flamethrowers. People couldn't even get close to it. Do you know anything like that?" His face was light, just a touch of condescending to lower our guards.

_So he knows about what happened at Christmas? What other Pokemon-related incidents does he know about? This is bad! Really bad!_

"If such a thing happened, don't you think it would have made the news, or at least online?" Nio again cut Alex off, now looking slightly angry by Wes's persistence. "Are you done yet? Your questions are getting weirder every second. Don't people nowadays have a right to privacy?"

Wes's smile curved downwards, and it didn't fit his face at all. He looked deadly serious, and his stare went right my eyes, making me shiver at sudden cold. "And what about you, kid? Did you see anything of the like before?"

This was what I was afraid of, and I could think of nothing than to just lie and reply "I didn't see anything.", but I couldn't move my lips. I was frozen on the spot, afraid that whatever escaped my mouth would tip him off. Having a stranger just suddenly ask such a bold question made my brain produce nothing but gibberish. "I, uh, I didn't-"

"Leave him out of this. We're the ones under questioning, not you." I jumped a little at Alex's swift interference. I let out a quiet sigh as Wes turned to him instead.

"Is there so much harm in asking? If these things really are monsters, then shouldn't the people be warned about them?" He talked back in equal rage. I felt like shrinking into the background again, when Wes quickly faced me again. "Well kid?"

I answered quickly to get it over with. "No I haven't." It was only after my reply that I realized I turned the other way as I said it.

Wes's eyes showed he noticed this as well, but he didn't press on. He pocketed his notepad and picked up his camera from the table. "Thank you for your time." He spun on his heels and walked to the door.

**TINK!**

It was as if something exploded in my shirt. A huge bulge rose from under the cotton, stretching it until it formed a crude outline of a familiar ghost-type.

It was only when Maria started talking that I rose out of my seat. "Hey, what the..."

Too scared to gasp in fear, I instead tried to crush it under my arms in silent struggles to prevent her from making any noise. Alex and Nio noticed this, and the former ushered me to the living room while Nio quickly walked up behind Wes.

"Well, if you're leaving, hurry up. I don't like unnecessary guests." I could barely hear him on the other side through the muffled screams from my shirt. I doubled my hold to make sure no sound would escape. Finally I heard the door slam shut and I pulled my shirt out of my pants, allowing Maria to escape.

"Pwah! What the hell was that?!" Her eyes were staring right into mine, and her entire face was noticeably darker. She was panting heavily, obviously oxygen-deprived while I was crushing her under my arms.

I raised my hands in defense, but nevertheless relieved that she wasn't found out. "Sorry! There was a visitor, and I had to put it in my shirt!"

"...what?"

I drew a breath, but Maria turned away before I could say a word. "Never mind, I don't want to know! Anyways, who was that?"

Alex was the first to react. "That man was Wes Vertel, someone obviously too nosy for his own good." He sat on the chair I was just in and rested his head on his arms. "Damn him. We need to be more careful from now on, all of us."

I faced Maria, recognizing a problem. "I'm guessing that means no more training for Maria?"

"Damn. What am I supposed to do the entire time you're at school then?" she said deadpan. She was obvious bored just from talking about it, but now secrecy was vital.

"Maybe you can just stay home? It can't be that boring, and he's going to be skulking around the school especially." Alex rebutted, shaking his head for emphasis. "There's you, Jess, Kari, and other players at the school that are discreet about their Pokemon. Keep at it, and don't encourage him to keep investigating."

Maria gave a grunt at this. "Then what the hell am I supposed to do? Speaking of doing, what are you going to do about this mystery Pokemon?"

Alex raised a hand to calm her. "Relax, I know some players with similar Pokemon around town. A simple questioning, a warning, and hopefully they'll be more careful if they don't want their Pokemon confiscated."

"So you know the guy who did this? Who?" I spoke up.

"Sorry, but that's confidential info. Everyone needs some privacy." Alex walked over to the door. "I'm going home too. I need a break."

"'Course." Nio said behind me. "I need some more time to think about how to approach this. We need to stall exposing ourselves as much as possible. John, you just go home and stay home as much as you can. We don't want you raided by the paparazzi like before."

The memory still lingered in my mind, and I unintentionally shivered. "I never want to be surrounded by so many people again." I nodded in agreement.

...

Tasha's POV

I raised my head from the pillow. After I wiped my face, I looked at Bolt besides me.

"Come on, let's go for a walk, huh?"

I could tell he was straining to smile, but even that was enough to get me to crack a grin. If there was anything to lighten my mood anytime anywhere, it was him.

"Sorry for being so down, but I'm not in the mood."

"Come on, you can't be that down from a lecture. Especially from him." His cheeks crackled at the last part.

My so-called "father" didn't need to make any precautions to stop me from leaving. He broke me down with both his words and hands to make sure I would stay home, starving even, for a while. My entire body still felt like it was throbbing and my head was pounding. I sat up straight, hugging the pillow like I did with Bold, before I was reminded of his ability.

"What would you know?" I almost screamed out at him. My throat was engorged and my eyes were stinging, but I was so mad I didn't care. "You don't have a mom and dad."

He shirked a bit, but didn't stop trying to talk to me. "But...if I had a parent, I'm sure they wouldn't treat their son like you. Isn't a parent supposed to protect you?"

"Sometimes." I remembered some of the books I read back at the orphanage. Dull, thick classics from 20th century weirdo names, but they were the only source of enjoyment I had. Everyone else was so apathetic just being around them was depressing. "But sometimes, they treat you like shit, they leave you, they don't care about you but to make things more convenient."

"But! But!" Bolt was starting to crack himself, but remained strong. I could see him griping his paws as if they held the answer. "Then just run away again! Go visit John's, or that old man!"

I sighed into my pillow and stared at him. I could see some tears pooling but he was completely tense, keeping them from leaking. Other than that, he was angry, that was obvious. I couldn't help but smile a bit at his optimism.

"I can't visit John, his parents would have found out about what happened to him, and that old guy," Unfortunately, I forgot his name, but that wasn't what was important for now. "I forgot his address, and I sure as hell didn't write it down anywhere. Not I would know where his house is in the first place." I remembered when that man with the Lucario, Alex, found me on the streets. I was just wandering around blindly, and then he showed up to take me to John and the others.

I laid the pillow to my side, starting to get hot from hugging it too much. My room was the definition of minimalistic-a word I picked up from one of the classic novels cluttering my floors. Other then the mess, it was pretty clean; a desk, chair, a bed, and a bookshelf-now void of their books. I spent too much time trying to run away to clean up something so trivial. But now, it seems like cleaning up was the only thing worthwhile doing-my dad didn't seem to bother cleaning up in my absence.

I gave Bolt a quick hug, rubbing his back slowly, not quickly as to activate his ability, and once I felt his tears on my clothes, I placed him back down and got off the bed.

"You're going out?" Bolt looked hopeful, happy to see me other than sad.

"No, just cleaning." I gave him the same light smile as before and bent over to pick up the first book. Tale of Two Cities, one of the more regrettable books of my dad's collection. Too much history that muddled every other aspects of the story.

"Cleaning? That's a first." I heard Bolt leap off the bed and look over the book with me. Despite his tone, he caught on and picked up another beside me-a pocket dictionary, always useful for figuring out 19th century words.

"What? You thought I was just some idiot girl?" I smiled wider at his presumption, embarrassing him down to stuttering.

"No, no! Not at all!" He took the dictionary and climbed up the chair before laying it on the desk.

_But I am, aren't I?_

"Really, you think so? I lost you, I work for my bastard of a father, whom I don't even know what he's doing with all those other players, and I asked that John kid for a night at his home without even thinking of the risks? I sound like a real idiot girl now I think about it."

Bolt actually dropped the book-The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn-I handed him and somehow raised a non-existent eyebrow. He opened his mouth to speak, but an empty exhale came instead of words. I kept staring at him until he could come up with a more fitting response.

"No, you're not! You did the best you could, thought of the best ideas you could! There's nothing dumb about that!"

"It doesn't matter if it doesn't work!" I kept my voice low as I could, but that didn't stop me from slamming the book I had in hand-Oliver Twist, on the desk. "Now, because of my screw-ups, everyone's going to hate me!" I griped at my hair and threw myself onto my bed.

_I wanted to be a hero, help people and Pokemon! Now after all I've done, work with my dad, and trick John, I couldn't even help either one of them! _

"I don't hate you."

I looked up from my hands and saw Bolt sitting on the desk, wiping his eyes with his paws. I know I shouldn't be, but I was getting angrier just by looking at him. I bit my lips to try and contain myself from screaming. He doesn't understand it at all. He's either been with me running away from Sing or stuck in his Pokeball, so he wouldn't know much about what was at stake.

"Don't you get it?! Everything I've done so far was trying to keep everyone safe! But now, John, Nio, and my dad's all mixed up with each other. And with this new Pokemon showing up, everything's going to get even rougher between them."

Hearing the Pikachu sigh wanted me to grab him by the tail, regardless of the shocking aftermath. "So now what do you want to do? Just stay here?"

There he goes, with his reverse psychology shtick again. But then again, it never failed to get me moving, and if it did, I felt my guts twisting in guilt afterwards.

Yes, think of me as what you want, but this was why I loved him so much. He was everything that I wasn't, and I was everything he was. Whatever my dad couldn't make me do with words and hands, Bolt could do with a single question. Maybe it was the fact that I felt like what a mother may feel when he encourages me like that.

Sorry if I'm being so sappy, but I can't help it. He was the only one I really trusted.

"No." I smiled at Bolt and picked him up. His own smile was enough to tell me his plan worked. "But what should I do? You got any ideas?"

"A walk? Something to clear your head?"

"Something to clear my head?" I petted Bolt head as he nuzzled into my hand. "I think I know just the thing."

...

John's POV

_Now what? Nio and Alex are cooking up something, and with this photojournalist guy snooping everywhere, I can't let Maria out again. I should tell Jess and Kari about this. If he sees any of their Pokemon, what would happen to them?_

I reached into my pocket to grab the Pokeball, but didn't pull it out. Maria's been in her Pokeball ever since I left Nio's place, and I was looking around constantly for any sign of that baseball cap. If he and I so much as make eye contact, he would hound on me for more answers. I don't think he left Nio with a satisfied answer.

As much as I wanted Maria out and talk with her to pass the time, I couldn't risk it. For the first time in a while, the streets were populated with enough people for a floating ghost-type to be considered conspicuous. In short, I couldn't let her out without being seen. That could only result in a public catastrophe even a blind man could notice.

Besides, I had something on my mind already: the talk I had with my parents.

Easy to say, it did not go well. Through all their screaming, the message was obvious: never see Nio and Alex again. Sure, I just saw them today, but I swore myself that was the last time. The only time my mom and dad was so angry was when they heard of my bullying problem. Any more madder and I think they would have started breaking things, most likely over Nio's head. Thankfully, the pair knew the circumstances and knew it was the last time I would see them. This meant I was practically grounded, because my parents knew I had no other reason to go out than to visit someone. I could only do so today because I told them I wanted to say good bye to them, and they graciously permitted me.

"I guess I should just do my best to live normally." I said aloud, not caring whether someone heard me or not.

"Hey you!"

My skin shivered when I heard the familiar voice next to me. I turned and saw the distinct hoodie and the girl in it running towards me.

I couldn't help but sigh. It was largely her fault that things ended like this. Drugging me, kidnapping me, getting me in the middle of Sing and his project, and the mere look at her was enough to make me shake in irritation if not loathing.

_Why is she here? How dare she just come to me like this! After what she's done! And who does she think she is, calling out "Hey you!" like that?!_

I continued walking, trying to ignore her with only two feet of air between us.

"Hey, slow down!"

_Why, so you could say sorry?_

"Look, I know you probably think of me as a bitch-"

_You can't be any closer to the truth._

"But don't you get it?! Sing made me! He would have killed Bolt otherwise!"

_That doesn't matter to me._

"Oh, would you just listen?!"

At the words, I finally turned around, clenching my teeth and trying to show my angry face at her, hoping to scare her into submission. If that didn't work, my fist was more than ready for the job.

"No, YOU listen!"

Unfortunately, that was all that I could utter.

Don't get m wrong. It wasn't her teary eyes, quivering lips or the combination that stopped me. I still hated her as much as I could. It was just that I didn't know what to say, now that she was right in front of me. But I was still tense and my hands were still clenched.

As for her, she was completely still and had pulled her hands to her chest, as if she was ready to be attacked. Never before, have I seen her so vulnerable. Even when she was wrapped in my blanket, when she was begging her father to return Maria, she was never so pathetic.

A pregnant pause filled the air as we just stood there, ignoring the stares of passer-bys. I was on the pretense of yelling and putting her down, while she was bracing herself for a screaming that would never come. I had to blink myself to reality before I lost the feeling in my legs.

_What do I do? If it was Maria in front of me, I would have told her to calm down and hug her, but with her? A strange girl I've only known for a couple days, and I just yelled straight at her face. Ugh, I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I wish Jess and Kari were here! They would know how a girl's brain works!_

Tasha must have noticed my hesitation and whimpered, "Well? What is it?"

I had to gasp a few times to clear my head, not to mention relax my face muscles to avoid screaming my next words.

"I -" I had to inhale again "- sorry. For interrupting, I mean. You wanted to tell me something first." I showed her my open hands to calm her, and it appeared to work.

"W-well, I just want to say." She squirmed on spot and fiddled with her fingers. "Listen, that base is more than just a shelter." She shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets before anxiously pacing on the spot, as if waiting to go to the bathroom.

I copied her movements, but kept my legs still. "What are you talking about? What about that place? It's a shelter?"

I must have been glaring, because she took a small step back. "Well, what I mean is that Sing explained that the base is a shelter. But there's more than that!" Her bare teeth demonstrated her exasperation. I guessed that she was struggling to find the right words. "Listen, I visited that place more than once. I know everyone's names and what role they had in your kidnapping."

I growled, more out of annoyance than impatience. "So what, you just here to spill exposition, or you want to hurry and get to the point?"

"Alright, alright!" she stammered before continuing. "Sing, he's gathering players for a reason. I don't know yet, but he wants those players, all them if possible. Even more than the old man."

"You mean Nio." I nodded understandingly, but frowned. "But what do you want me to do about it? Why are you telling me this?"

"I wanted to go to Nio's place, I know, but with you here, you could tell him yourself."

I bit my lip. "Tell him yourself. I just got back from his house, and I need to get back home."

"Shit," she whispered. She pulled her hands out and bent her knees, an obvious sign of preparing for a run. "Alright fine. I'll have to tell him tomorrow though. And hey." She looked at me but didn't make eye-contact. "Thanks. For listening." With that, she sprinted past me.

I sighed in relief, but felt guilt tugging at my insides. Everyone was up to or doing something. Shouldn't I be getting involved too? After all I have a Pokemon of my own, and she's itching to fight. Anything I could do to help Alex and Nio seemed like a good idea.

Then I remembered my parents. Instincts told me enough of what I should do.

I clenched fists one last time before walking back home. "Damn it. What can a kid like me do anyways? I didn't ask for any of this in the first place."

...

Tasha's POV

It wasn't long before I could see my house. If I was lucky enough, I could clean the house before Sing to have him stop yelling at me once in a while when he's tutoring me.

He was almost always cranky when he did, and often didn't have the time to spend with me. But when he did, he was always attentive and thorough with his lectures. Whenever I wasn't trying to run away or outside, I would either read or study. My house didn't have cable and the only computer we had was a laptop, and even that was used only in Sing's office, but I learned to live with it.

Unfortunately, my hoping was for naught when I saw the front door: it was open.

"Shit." I couldn't help it. I didn't expect Sing to come back so early. Usually he would return late at night and I would be sleeping.

I jogged the rest of the distance, my haste useless now.

_What can I say to Sing? That I just went for a walk instead of running away? That I went for an early dinner? _

I closed the door behind me. I took a couple tentative steps in and heard Sing in the kitchen.

"Sometime later, don't worry. I can take you myself if you want."

"Thank you very much. So when are you available?"

Curiosity overcame me and instead of smartly waiting for adult talk to end, I went to the kitchen.

Two men were sitting across each other on the table. Sing was in his regular office clothes talking to a black man in a sweater and baseball cap. On the table was a large video camera and the stranger was shaking Song's hand like a colleague.

The stranger looked at me and smiled. "I didn't know you had a daughter Mr. Sing!"

"My daughter is not often the subject of conversation. Go to your room." Sing mumbled. He pointed at the staircase to emphasize. "She's supposed to be grounded."

At this point I turned away and went upstairs. I didn't want to know anything to do with Sing for the day. I was tired from running and Bolt was waiting for news.

...

**Weak finish I know, but I didn't want to leave the chapter with a cliffhanger again. Now where was I?**

**Oh yes.**

**I'M SOOOOOOOOO SORRY!**

**It's been over a year, and I've so distracted with school, the internet, new interests, and other things you don't want to hear about to have enough time set aside for writing.**

**On a personal note, I feel really guilty because of my hypocrisy. I write fics, but I've been reading so many other authors' fics that I feel like a lazy slob. Well, that's gone, and from here on, I will dedicate whatever free time I have to write the next chapter (when I'm not busy, which is unfortunately, almost every day.)**

**Understand that due to my break, expect my writing style to change-hopefully not into something prosy. **

**If you are reading this (especially if reviewing), I cannot thank you enough for sticking with this story, and I hope I can put this to a speedy but well-put end. **

**Again, thank you for putting up with my excuses. I cannot guarantee when the next chapter will be written, so sorry about the inconvenience. **

**(PS: please tell me what you think about this new chapter and how it compared to the previous chapters in the past. I've been attending an English tutor for the last year, so I'm hoping I'm hoping I don't have any grammatical mistakes on my part, at least!)**

**(PPS: also, if you're interested, please check out my new story, "My Time With Mistress". If you're more into story than pointless sex, than this might tickle your fancy)**


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